April - June 2012



A Bit of “Class”



Along with coverage of the “Occupy Wall Street” activity, the question of social and economic class in America has lately been mentioned on television, in newspapers, and in magazine articles. Whenever the President has said anything about the apparent differences between the very well-to-do in our country and just about everybody else, his political opponents have almost immediately accused him of trying to stir up “class warfare” in the United States of America.

So what gives? Are we equal in America, or not?

Actually, there is a long history of not particularly widely read literature about this topic that has been written ever since our country was established. For any who may want to explore further more recently published detail here is a short sample list of pertinent books:

  • Other People’s Money - And How the Bankers Use It (Harper Torchbooks, 1967) by Louis D. Brandeis -- from articles originally published in 1913 - 1914.
  • The Rise of American Civilization (The MacMiillan Company, 1927) by Charles A. and Mary R. Beard
  • America’s 60 Families (The Vanguard Press, 1938) by Ferdinand Lundberg
  • The Rich and the Super-Rich - A Study in the Power of Money Today (Lyle Stuart Inc., 1968) by Ferdinand Lundberg
  • The Higher Circles: The Governing Class in America (Vantage Books, 1971) by G. William Domhoff
  • All the Money in the World - How the Forbes 400 Make and Spend their Fortunes (Alfred A. Knopf, 2007) by Peter W. Bernstein and Annalyn Swann

To make any claim about the “Class” structure of American Society, one must determine if there are significant differences between various groups of citizens in the United States. In “Wealth, Income, and Power”, an article published on his website, G. William Domhoff cites work completed in 2010 by Edward N. Wolff of New York University. In that work Professor Wolff shows this information for 2007:

2007 Distribution of Household Net Worth in America:
  • Held by Top 1 Percent: 34.6%
  • Held by Next 19 Percent: 50.5%
  • Held by Bottom 80 Percent: 15.0%


    • 2007 Distribution of Household Financial Wealth in America:
  • Owned by Top 1 Percent: 42.7%
  • Owned by Next 19 Percent: 50.3%
  • Owned by Bottom 80 Percent: 7.0%


    • Looked at from the point of view of Debt Held and Business Ownership the difference between the top and the bottom is even more striking:

  • The Top 1 Percent owe creditors 5% of the outstanding debt
  • The Next 9 Percent owe creditors 21% of the outstanding debt
  • The Bottom 90 Percent owe creditors 73% of the outstanding debt

  • The Top 1 Percent own 62% of business equity and 61% of financial securities
  • The Next 9 Percent own 31% of business equity and 38% of financial securities
  • The Bottom 90 Percent own 7% of business equity and 2% of financial securities

    • It is hard in the face of these wealth, ownership, and debt realities to support the commonly held contention that most Americans are equal in what they have or in the opportunities that each one may realistically pursue.

    Here is the only conclusion that actually fits the facts:

    There is an aristocracy of wealth and power in America that far surpasses the position of any monarchy that ever existed on the face of the earth.