Aspen Anti-Billionaire Society

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A community dedicated to spreading awareness of the negative impacts of the billionaire class, especially the 250 richest people on the planet

We believe that the existence of the 0.01% comes at a cost to the rest of us, even multi-millionaires, and hope to spread awareness of this problem among the 1% (who have the most resources to affect change)

All discussion and links related to wealth inequality and related activism are welcome. We hope that this community can serve as an easily accessible repository of information about wealth inequality

Please meet disagreement with civility so we can foster productive discourse

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ToastedRavioli@midwest.social

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The richest 10% of Americans now account for 50% of the country’s consumer spending while the bottom 60% account for just 20%. (midwest.social)

submitted 23 hours ago by ToastedRavioli@midwest.social to c/aspen_anti_billionaire_society@midwest.social

10 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/31968765

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-28/wealthy-americans-fuel-half-of-us-economy-consumer-spending (https://archive.ph/bdJ04)

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[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 12 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

For anyone wondering, the threshold for a household to hit the top 10% is a combined net worth of just under two million dollars (1.92). That's net worth, not cash on hand.

I bring this up because the way net worth is calculated can sometimes be a bit dodgy. You might officially have a net worth of two million dollars, but if you try to cash all of your assets out, you might find that you have considerably less. BUT, you can borrow against the overestimated net worth. So you've got that going for you. Which is nice.

[–] tburkhol@lemmy.world 18 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Article's not talking about wealth, though: it uses income. Top 10% combined household income is about $250k, and they account for about 25% of all income earned. Household income could be two salaries plus investments.

[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 3 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Yep. I guess the point I was implying, and you can really see its effects in the comment section of the original post, is that the headline is misleading and meant as rage bait. The headline implies that the 10% are the ultra wealthy in order to get people worked up. The real story isn't about the super rich as many read this to be. In my opinion the real take on the story is how income inequality in this country is like falling off a cliff. You can be in the top 10% and easily be wiped out by healthcare debt after surviving a single bout with serious illness.

[–] tburkhol@lemmy.world 5 points 19 hours ago

Agree. Top 10% is one of the IRS/census bureau's breakouts, but it doesn't really capture the scope of inequality. IMO, wealth number - $2M - sounds a lot richer than the income number - $250k - especially on the internet, where people skew younger. 10% income is about 3x median. 10% net worth is about 10x median. But in a country where 16% of people are over 65, a lot of those $2M people are retirees. Top 10% of either could easily be your neighbor, and you'd probably not notice.

The 1% numbers are much more extreme. 1% by wealth is $11M; by income $790k. The 1% threshold is about as far from the 10% threshold as the 10% threshold is from median, by either measure.