American Wealth, Sliced Up

JCTheDenthog

I'd love the idea of a more equal share of wealth in America. Unfortunately most of the proposed solutions tend to be of the "make everyone equally miserable" sort, and usually come from the sorts of people that imagine themselves as the commissars and cadres of the new regime in such a situation. Europe has tried to limit to wealth of the wealthiest, and in the process seems to have utterly kneecapped their own economies and development. The poorest US states are wealthier (even when adjusting for PPP) than all but the wealthiest European nations.

asjldkfin

Can somebody explain how this graph makes sense? It seems to imply the top 2 people own 30% of the wealth, which is not what the data states.

dayyan

The acid test of intelligence is if one believes in a zero sum economy or not.

edawg88

I think the wealth should be age adjusted for inflation. Older people have had much more compounding than younger folds, much more time to save and earn, etc. Just doing it by raw percentages is a bit too raw.

myroon5

That graph literally just has fake labels. In reality, millionaires collectively have more than an order of magnitude more wealth than billionaires: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/4zjnFxGWYkEF4nqMi/...

jmpman

The laffer curve was used to justify lower taxes in order to maximize government revenues. When you look at an individual, you can imagine that each individual would have an optimal laffer curve. Too high of a tax rate, and people aren't incentivized to work for one more dollar. However, we never talk about the laffer curve for dead people. I'd say that it could be about as high as you want to make it, and they're not going to work any more or less for an additional dollar. And their children who inherit that wealth, also.. higher laffer curve. Somehow Republicans don't bring that up when they advocate lower taxes on the rich.

Blackstrat

Generally, income distribution is a solved problem. The issue is that too many people aren't willing to take the steps necessary to get the income they seek. They'd rather scream about the minimum wage, the ultra-rich, the evil white men, etc. Redistribution schemes do not work. Bottom line, stay in school, get a functional education, stay off drugs, moderate alcohol intake, and don't have kids early, particularly when you aren't married. Yes, I'm aware that there are those people for whom such steps are insurmountable. That's where community organization come into play, e.g., churches, NGOs. It isn't the government's role to ensure equal outcomes. That's called communism. And it fails everywhere it's tried.

rmah

While mildly humorous, I don't understand why people on HN are voting this up. The pie chart is misleading at best.

elevation

If you liquidate Elon or Bezos' wealth and distribute it to every US citizen, you're looking at a one time payment of $1-2K per US citizen, and that's only if the value of the assents holds as you attempt to liquidate everything. If you sell it off slowly, you'll get more, but a few years of payments of $50/mo from the Bezos estate is hardly a UBI utopia. I can do far better for myself than that if I'm simply allowed to work overtime, and especially if I'm not criminalized for savings that I invest.

diziet

Well, the labels are fundamentally misleading: According to the author's data, "40 people get 0.75 slices each", whereas that 30 slice pie is labeled as "Hedge funders, fascist VCs, and cosmetic surgeons". Even if you take a charitable view to bundle every possible related occupation, I can hardly understand how labeling 40% of the US population as "Hedge funders, fascist VCs, and cosmetic surgeons" is accurate. The US has a very progressive taxation system: https://taxfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/FedData... For working and middle class households, the US tax burden is usually lower than in most European states, especially once payroll/social-insurance taxes and VAT are included. The US federal tax system is also very progressive by OECD standards, so upper-income households carry a larger share of federal taxes while the lower/middle bear less of the explicit tax load Of course, wealth is not exactly income, etc

jauntywundrkind

Meanwhile The Economist is inviting Arthur Laffer (the guy famous for the Laffer curve, which was the basis for Reaganomics) to publish pieces praising Reaganomics / trickle down. https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2026/06/02/reaganomi... Just wild how much the media has become a system for self-congratulations for the global elite barbarian class.

josefritzishere

This is a hilarious metaphor. Well done.

osigurdson

I bounce the moment I see "fascist" in your pie chart. Sorry.

johnea

Well, given that the graph shows a category that includes Fascist VCs, I'm not surprised this is flagged here 8-/