Asking Americans about the real and the desired distribution of wealth (how much of total wealth are/should be owned by the richest 20% of citizens) reveals some interesting perceptions. On average it was estimated that the richest fifth of the population owns 59% of total wealth. Yet, in the same study, participants indicate that ideally, the wealthiest 20% should own not more than 32% of the total. Probably even more noteworthy than this important gap is how substantially both figures differ from reality, where 20% own 84% of the nation’s wealth.
Noteworthy! A striking majority of Americans display preferences that contrast sharply with reality. Yet at the latest election they overwhelmingly voted people to office that intend not only to do nothing about this preference but which are actually bound to massively reinforce the undesired trend. As was demonstrated in this article, wealth doesn’t trickle down to the poor and the observed distribution is therefore a real social problem. Money is amassed by people, which have generally stopped to be any happier because of it, but is missed by people who actually could need it. A significant death duty is a possibility to redistribute money, which is not owned by anyone (and mostly not really needed by those who receive it). At the same time, consumer taxes, particularly affecting poor people and the middle classes could be significantly reduced. The note-worthy conclusion: It is urgent that people start to think which policies they really want and which really serves them and then appoint politicians that carry out these wishes.
Source: New York Times
