Most households have lower net worth, adjusting for inflation, than they did in 1983, when the Dow was still at 1,000. The wealthiest households reaped most of the gains. Average workers are earning less, adjusting for inflation, than they did when Richard Nixon was president. Shifting Fortunes features the latest findings of economist Edward Wolff of New York University, a leading authority on wealth distribution. The top 1 percent of households have 40 percent of the wealth.
Financial wealth is even more concentrated.
The top 1 percent of households now have more wealth than the entire bottom 95 percent. The boom has been a bust for millions of Americans. Weekly wages for average workers in 1998 were 12 percent below 1973, adjusting for inflation. Productivity grew nearly 33 percent in the same period. Almost 90 percent of the value of all stocks and mutual funds owned by households is held by the richest 10 percent.