
As the dust of the COVID-19 pandemic settles, the stark reality emerges: America’s richest are fattening their wallets while the working class treads water, despite empty promises of a narrowing wealth gap from a tight job market and inflated wage gains.
The Federal Reserve’s recent data is a slap in the face to the everyday American, revealing that the top 1% of income households now hoard a whopping 26.5% of household net worth as of June, surging by 1.5 percentage points since 2019, before the pandemic hit.
This grim reality shatters the mirage of a level playing field once touted during the early days of the pandemic when wages for the lesser-privileged seemed to rise.
While the narrative of increased wages for the lower-income strata echoed across the nation, the actual figures sang a different tune.
A mere 27% increase in net worth for the bottom one-fifth of households does little to bridge the yawning wealth gap as their share of the nation’s wealth trickles down to 6.7% from 7%.
The greed at the top seems to know no bounds as the U.S. Census Bureau uncovers the top 5% of earners increasing their income share from 23% in 2019 to 23.5% through 2022.
The tale of two Americas continues as the wealthy continue their relentless march to amass more riches.
The cries for a fair share of income resonate in the ongoing United Auto Workers strike, a stark reminder of the brutal battle for a larger piece of the earnings pie.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration’s efforts to boost middle-class wages seem to be as ineffective as he is.
The pandemic era, which initially plummeted the nation into a chilling recession, saw a hasty rebound, thanks to a significant fiscal response, catapulting household net worth to an astonishing nearly $153 trillion by early 2022.
However, the spoils of this rebound were grossly unequal.
The wealth growth rate for the high-flying top 1% soared sky-high compared to the meager increase for the bottom one-fifth of households.
The tough road ahead seems grimmer for many as inflation bites harder, wage growth loses steam, and the cushion of pandemic-era savings evaporates.
The rise in subprime mortgage delinquencies and a spike in credit card borrowing paints a bleak picture of the financial strain throttling many households.
As economists scramble to dissect these troubling trends, the fear looms that the upcoming “new normal” may harbor more peril for the less affluent if inflation continues its upward march, forcing a tighter grip from the U.S. central bank.
The widening chasm between the rich and the working class underscores a dire need for robust measures to halt this relentless march toward a more divided nation.
Without a determined stance to rectify this glaring disparity, the narrative of a land of opportunity for all rings hollow.