Time to check in with the richest Americans vs the poorest Americans

[ck4829]

Richest Americans:

Almost all wealth is owned by top 50% of Americans. Tax cuts may deepen divide, experts say.

A recent snapshot of U.S. wealth from the Federal Reserve depicts a nation where the top 50% of households controls 97.5% of the country's assets — a lopsided distribution that experts say could accelerate if President Trump's tax cuts are extended and low- and middle-income Americans take a hit from his tariff barrage.

While wealth inequality has always been part of American society, it's widened since the late 1980s, with the gains disproportionately flowing to the very wealthiest Americans, the Fed data shows. At the end of 2024, the top 1% of households owned 31% of the nation's assets, up from 23% in 1989, when the Fed data begins. Over that same period, the share owned by the bottom half slipped to 2.5% in 2024, down from 3.5% in 1989.

The data comes as Mr. Trump is seeking to extend his 2017 tax cuts in addition to a host of other reductions he promised on the campaign trail — from getting rid of taxes on Social Security income to making interest for some auto loans tax deductible. The benefits from those tax cuts are forecast to accrue largely to the top-earning households. At the same time, Republican lawmakers are eyeing cutbacks to some social safety net programs, such as Medicaid and food stamps, to pay for the tax cuts.

That combination could create a double-whammy for lower-income households, who wouldn't see much benefit from the tax cuts while also facing a loss of federal supports, according to a March 19 analysis from the Yale Budget Lab, a public policy think tank.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-tax-cuts-tariffs-top-50-percent-own-almost-all-wealth/

And poorest Americans:

Republicans consider slashing Medicaid—a move that could siphon billions from the health care coverage offered to the poorest Americans

Millions more Americans signed up for taxpayer-funded health care coverage like Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace during the Biden administration, a shift lauded by Democrats as a success.

But Republicans, who are looking to slash federal spending and offer lucrative tax cuts to corporations and wealthier Americans, now see a big target ripe for trimming. The $880 billion Medicaid program is financed mostly by federal taxpayers, who pick up as much as 80% of the tab in some states. And states, too, have said they’re having trouble financing years of growth and sicker patients who enrolled in Medicaid.

To whittle down the budget, the GOP-controlled Congress is eyeing work requirements for Medicaid. It’s also considering paying a shrunken, fixed rate to states. All told, over the next decade, Republican lawmakers could try to siphon billions of dollars from the nearly-free health care coverage offered to the poorest Americans.

Weeks before Congress began debating those changes, Republican governors in Arkansas, Ohio and South Dakota were making moves to implement Medicaid work rules of their own, likely to be approved by President Donald Trump’s administration.

https://fortune.com/well/2025/02/18/republicans-consider-slashing-medicaid-siphon-billions-health-care-poorest-americans/

[BobTheSubgenius]

1. I've long maintained that inequity is a much greater impetus towards revolution than deprivation.

People will endure massive hardship if they see everyone rowing the boat in the same direction.

[dweller]

2. Let's ask Bernie

✌🏻