It seems that nearly every day brings a new headline about income inequality in America, but this one is just stunning:
The richest six members of the Walton family (heirs to the Walmart fortune) have accumulated wealth equal to the entire bottom 30 percent of Americans.
Yes, six people with riches that match the combined wealth of nearly 100 million people.
According to Salon.com, that comparison was discovered in a new analysis by the UC Berkeley’s Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics.
The calculation is based on data from 2007, the most recent round of the Federal Reserve Board’s Survey of Consumer Finances, which measures the net worth of Americans. (The extensive survey is performed once every three years, Salon reported, and the 2010 edition is expected to be released next year.)
A Berkeley economist then compared those numbers to the net worth of the six members of the Walton clan, as reported on the Forbes 400 list in 2007. They are all children or children-in-law of the founders of Walmart. Their total net worth that year: $69.7 billion.
That’s equal to the wealth of the poorest 30 percent of all Americans, according to the Berkeley calculations.
