From the Washington Post:

New York University economist Edward Wolff has done the best work I’ve seen on the contribution of inheritance to wealth inequality, and his latest paper, coauthored with the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Maury Gittleman, is chock full of relevant data on the matter. In 2007, the last year Wolff and Gittleman look at, wealth transfers (mainly inheritances, but also including gifts) made up, on average, 14.7 percent of the total wealth of the 1 percent (more specifically, the top 1 percent in terms of wealth). Interestingly, inheritance’s share has declined over time. In 1992, 27 percent of the wealth of the top 1 percent came from wealth transfers.

Wolff and Gittleman also find that because wealth transfers generally make up a bigger portion of the wealth of poor and middle-class people, they actually reduce wealth inequality, in aggregate. “Our simulations show that eliminating inheritances either in full or in part actually increases overall wealth inequality and, in particular, sharply reduces the share of the bottom 40 percent of the wealth distribution,” they write. So while there’s no doubting that the rich are inheriting a lot of money — 14.7 percent of the wealth of the top 1 percent isn’t nothing, after all — it remains the case that inheritance does not increase wealth inequality.

It would appear there is very good reasoning for all of this. Corrupt system of legal and government spending the American peoples money however they want to. No real voting process anymore. It used to be the people could choose the presidential canidates, but now the rich have that right as well. What I mean by that is the head parties democratic and repulican (rich people) pick the canidates that give them (corporate America) the best benefits and lowest taxes. Mean while the worker that is supposed to see the benefits from this doesnt. Instead corporate American pockets the profits and throws the costs of insurance on their workers now. This allows companies and owners of these companies to become richer. (sad but true) Look at past trends of tax breaks bills passed for most major companies and taxes paid by the same campanies and tell me why their workers havent seen any of these raises, instead they consolidate multiple jobs into one paying one wage expecting the worker to do three jobs. (Thats not right) With jobs going over seas companies arent taxed by that country at all in some cases and they profit 100% but the books show different (no real transparency when dealing with other countries) Again Not right. Yet lower class, Mid-lower class, and middle classes have to pick up the tab for all of this through taxation with no true representation. Again (not what our founding fathers intended) There are a lot of things that arent right about our system right now that truely need to be addressed. Even Warren Buffet agrees that the tax system isnt fair. Why should some one making 9 billion a year (bill gates) pay less than 10% in taxes? The same rate as some one making $10,000-$25,000 a year. If you add up the loss on how much taxes could have been taken from the entire upper classes for the last 60 years that the loop holes have been open. It would have paid the national debt 15 times over again. The lack of leadership is one of the major issues. Not to say anything bad about our commander and chief. I love and respect the man but not the decisions. he is the negotiator for overseas trading which we have taken a deficet (even from american owned companies overseas). When i was a boy a we would walk away from a bad deal and look for another buyer not take the loss and lose money. simple thought. Congress should stop voting on raises for themselves when they arent doing their job to begin with. They are public servant in the attempt to represent the public not the be entitled to do as they please. The legal system is flawed by corruption and the highest bidder as well now a days. Sad but true, if you have enough money you can get away with murder. (OJ simpson). I have plenty more to say. trust me I can back all of this up. Simple economics is what is produced here and sold elsewhere makes us money. Quick question to whom ever....What do we produce anymore and why? Simlple answer its cheaper for coporations to move companies to other countries to avoid paying benefits and lower wages but gettinr higher production So the owners get richer and pay less taxes yet again corporate america wins and american public loses. There are a lot more issues that also need to be discussed on how the freedoms of the american public are being stripped away one by one to suit the needs of corporate america. Freedom of speech and the right to persue happiness.
why is a worker not allowed to have rights? Right to work states and Work at will states that the employer can fire just cause they feel like it and without justifiable causes. I will write more later. Please respond if you feel like it.......have a good day

I did serve this country in the army honorably, I rang door bells to make a living as a kid and as well I also have a college education that I still pay for. Even with no jobs I try to better myself and contribute to society in a positive effort to make a good difference. I believe mygirl I have that education as well as the experience as a former soldier and current management of major manufacturing firm to back my statements.

"Then there is the side effect of creating a cradle-to-grave welfare state, wherein it is better to stay on welfare because the benefits are far better than getting a low paying job. Say you need an education to get that better job? So, when everyone has a college degree, what distinguishes them from each other? Once upon a time it was a HS diploma, now you must have a college degree...

Note that while all the venom and ire are focused on corporate America, not one passing glance is made at the rules, regulations and taxes that corporate America battles to hope to make a profit. Nor is any attention paid to exactly Why there is corporate cronyism. Does influence peddling happen because the legislators who make the laws can be bought and exempt certain companies just like they exempt themselves from having to follow the laws? (MYGIRL1 )"

These laws that you speak of are lobbied by corporations to be changed for corporate benefit as well as no one can really contest corporations due to the liquidity and assets backing them.
It would take a collective of an entire city to fight with a Walmart but yet a walmart still can plant a super center anywhere as they please. A city council can say no, but (then it brings in the question as to) why when the entire community has voted against it. Yet it is build and running anyway. ----simple answer (we the people are no longer represented the way we used to be)

I can bring proof of profits in almost every aspect to this board to show how corporations make a profit reguardless of manufacturing. Companies have a treasuries usually that handles stock bought back and investment profiles for the companies---(foreign and domestic)--still making profits off less risky investment practices. This doesnt have to be shown as a portion of the companies earned income due to it being unrealised earned income. other conglomerate companies feed eash other through the hard times to consolidate and move multi laterally enabling them to gain more market share and sqeeze ma and pop operations out of existence. This enables them to become ogilopolies and raise their prices to what ever they please. So please dont dismay my words as vemon towards corporate America. I am merely stating facts on how the system in built around and caters to corporations--(ie rich owners and NOT their workers anymore)

This cradle to grave - ideology that you speak of I do not agree with the welfare system at all. It was set-up by the government in an attempt to satisfy the needy but so many loop holes were left open for people to abuse the system. This is a sad case of bad legislation, policy, and poorly planned system all together. In case you are wondering my backround and knowlege of these things (MBA) should be good enough for an answer. As well as many of studies in systems through operations management. This system needs to be torn down and rebuilt with a time limit attached for those that are just trying to get over on the system. Others that really need the system should be evaluated on a case by case basis. The fact that there are people out there popping out kids just to have a free place to live and free food, and free everything is sickining. What about the quality of life for the child these are things not considered by the young one popping out the children and ergo become our problem and society has to deal with the kids that turn out bad. I give a pat on the back for the ones that make something of themselves in that environment. It would be hard to turn away from everything that is free to make a living for yourself. (laziness)

The youth of america today have an entirely different perspective than that of the older generations I agree but to what extent are they right on how the system is wrong and to what extent are they right for saying what they believe. After all they are excercising their rights as are we to speak at this very moment. I do believe there has to be a way to fix things but it would have to be a program by program basis. The wars fought and this is coming from a vet mind you......One is justified while the other is not. Afghanistan is a justifiable war we were attacked and forced into it. Iraq on the other hand was not an attack and not justifiable. Every country is capable of their own civil war (LIBBIA EXAMPLE). Though we may throw out there democracy is a better way (possibly but we have our own problems as well) That doesnt justify invading and tearing a government out of power so there leader can be executed. They could have done that on their own. It just takes a group of people to band together with the right motivation and cause to start a revolution. It still takes their new or old leaders time to find the right way and direction to take their country.

Our own country is plaged by: Homeless, hungery, tired, poor, emotionally distrubed, health crisis, national disaster (hurricanes, Floods, earthquakes, landslides, wild fires, and numerous more.) At what point is it fair for the american people to pay for other countries problems when we need to fix our own first and foremost. The system is broken and needsd to be fixed. When you have company owners that make billions and pay only 10% tax (if that), while the rest of us pick up the tab for everything. That is just wrong.

I maynot totally agree with the method in which people protest or why they are protesting. Its their right to do so. I agree there are lots of things that neeed to be looked at and fixed. Look at the tax system, Corporation power and authority in comparison to the communities that reside there, look at current political system, look at abroad taxation on corporations, Learn Economics for those that dont understand it, Jobs leaving country helps the country where the jobs are going i.e. NAFTA free american trade agreement, and numerous other aspects. It used to be 20,000 pecos to an american dollar after NAFTA its now 10 pecos to an american dollar. What is the difference you ask? Well, when you open companies in other countries and you pay their workers they spend that money in their country making their economy stronger and ours weaker. That money leaves our economy and goes to theirs and usually stays there. All economies are based on that same system. bring money into your country GOOD send money out of it BAD!!! simple but yet we import more than we export every year for many many many of years now. this is an example of poor decision making in leadership (government, private, and publc sectors) After all they are in the same boat for economic purposes. We the people fuel this economy only for compaines to send jobs and money to other economies (NOT GOOD) there should be a way to have a say in these things for the American people. (oh wait there is Corrupt Politicians )

So Those that think people are just being lazy continue to have the wool pulled over your eyes. A small percentage of those protesters are welfare people yes, but majority are laid off employees. These are the angry people because their jobs were moved overseas and job creation has been a running joke for the last 3 years.......Seriously think about it. How mad would you be to lose your assests (house, cars, and retirement) due to a company and politicians screwing our economy further and helping someone elses economy. Probably pretty mad, but since it hasnt happened to you. you dont care. Put yourselves in their shoes for a change and think about the ones out there that lost their jobs and homes that are trying to speak out.

Look up last interview with Warren buffet and tax spreads that he brought to the table proving that the top twenty percent didnt pay what you are claiming. simple math 500 million people US and out of that 20% pay supposed 45% taxed According to law not including all the tax breaks. top 20% as you claim them are 100million people paying 45% which equates to little when you consider 400 million people paying 40%-10% majority of that is in the 30% range. so you do the math 400million paying 30%-40% tax campared to 100million paying a capped 45% on taxes I bet i know which payes more...........

Obama did inherit a mess but its also a team effort. Congress and house of rep are supposed to work with the president to represent the people for the people. This isnt good policy that they wage wars on eash other and accomplish nothing. Bush did tear up the economy with the help of congressional backing. I do understand full and well washington politics. Politics is politics as the pure definition tactical movement in the pursuit of gaining power. Trying to please everyone is impossible, but as a nation we are failing financially and as a government. The tax system needs to be revamped. Welfare needs to be fixed. Social security is almost gone. Medicare is slowly being stripped to nothing.

You have to ask the question "what is the ROOT cause of this"? Why is this happening? What are the contributing factors the are underling this problem and How do we fix it? Is there real representation that can fix this? What do we (as the American people have to sacrifice in order to acheive a solution? Is this going to make a dark age in the US history for a while while we are fixing it? This wealth of words is part of the problem.....It surely doesnt say nothing. Only if you dont read and understand the complexity of the situation as a whole. Then it says nothing. Try reading it as the problems that are plauging the US now and what all needs to be fixed. To do this and lower the National debt will take some serious political manuevers and sacrifices. The super budget commitee should have been given the power to over rule all. They should have had an independant group go in and cut all wasteful spending and say to them deal with it. As well as cut the pay of those congress members that made things this way to begin with.

This is a joint effort amongst all three branches legislative, executive and the other. This isnt a one sided deal. If one failed they all fail. simple as that. I can give very adimant examples of this. They are supposed to work together for us not themselves and profit from what they do. Warren Buffet has given numerous speeches and numerous pieces of proof to show rich and corporations do not pay their share on taxes (missing revenue that helps keep our national debt down). There are numerous problems that need to be addressed and figured out. Threatening government shutdowns only hurts employees, soldiers, and the people as a whole. Due to not working together to solve a problem.

I dont blame Obama but I don blame the Leadership as a whole for this mess. I just want to clear that up right now. i feel bad for Obama taking the brunt of all the failures before him. Although Obama really needs to evalute the economy as a whole and look where the lost revenue is and collect it. As well as bring the jobs back to the US. The reason we could work our way out of the great depression is because we were a manufacturing country. We produced our way back to the top. Now we have almost a non-exsistant manufacturing and we import more than we export. (import manufactured good from other countries, which can be produced here) Simple Econ and finance if you spend more than you have you are in debt. ECON if you import more than you export you are in serious trouble. There are major changes that need to be done in Private, Public, and Governmental sectors to fix this problem. This isnt just about unfair taxation this is the picture as a whole. NO JOBS = No pay for AMERICAN WORKERS means no spending money in those stores that fuel our economy = Down fall of US ECONOMY (Consumer based economy is more complex than that but that is a short and sweet version.

As it stands now we are sending jobs to overseas countries and paying their workers and in turn they spend the money in their country. This makes their economy better. At one time Mexico used to be 20,000 pecos to a 1 Dollar. Since the birth of NAFTA its now 10 pecos to 1 Dollar. What is the key change? Companies moved to mexico for cheaper labor and no benefit costs, but in doing so they fueled the mexican economy to be almost as strong as ours. Then things moved to India.
Then things moved to China, Indonesia, and Philipines. Guess what at some point our economy will not be able to fuel anyothers anymore. We will go belly up and Broke. As we lose our credit ratings cause we spend more than we make it will become increasingly difficult for the US to operate. It takes money to operate a government. If you dont have it what do you think happens? TAXES TAXES TAXES. Since the credit rating was down graded any world bank loans are scrutinized even more and not easily handed to the US government anymore.

Some where over the years the parties have lost perspective and fight each other so fiercely that they accomplish nothing. Another Four years wasted, if good policies and procedures are put into play as during the clinton ERA we should make a surplus again. Enabling us to dig out of this hole we call the national debt.

With millions of people looking at years of no job prospects!, the budget deficit around 1.28 trillion dollars, and that interest growing every hour, something needs to be done that does not take ten years, or two or three years, time is running out something needs to be done now!

Some might say no more stimulus, but stimulus is what is needed to get the country back on track, and the budget deficit under control! also taxes needs to be raised, namely the Bush tax this needs to be repealed for everyone in order to get things moving, when things are back on track they could reform the tax system, broaden the base, lower corporate taxes, cut spending pay down the debt etc., but right now people need to have income to live.

one way to do this is to give these unemployed people five or six hundred dollars per week for two years tax free! and take around 28% from the top and give that not to be paid back to all the states as most needed to get state and city workers, teachers, police firemen, city workers etc. working at full capacity, this will create demand in the markets, and stabilise the economy, and with this 28% plus their regular money they take in it will help the jobs markets and small and big business!.

The 5 or 6 hundred dollars minus 28% would go directly to the 17 or so millions of people who will spend this money to live , stimulating demand in the markets, it will also help lift the real estate markets to this would be around 6 billion dollars per week for two years going into the economy, and it will be as if everyone was working zero unemployment w/o the taxes, allow these people to find jobs and work while they collect this money, and they will pay taxes on the money they earn , this will help the economy, withhold all other assistance from them for three years , and if they need help after that they can apply for it with strict guidelines possible eliminating some waste and fraud.

The money the gov., and states will pay to help these people with food stamps, housing, and unemployment dollars could be applied to help fund this plan, the bush tax cut when repealed will bring in more than enough to pay for this in the next five years, the federal gov. and the states could cut spending, and eliminate waste much better, with the unemployment problem out of the way for two years, they could easily pay the budget deficit off in that time without derailing the recovery, this would save them billions of dollars n interest that they are paying out on this deficit now.

If the gov. would start the infrastructure projects that are direly needed as they implement this plan it will create work for these people who want to work, some of them could, go to school, the economy would grow, and become stable, and the legislator's could work on other important things like immigration, trade, etc. I hope someone can see how this plan could help the problem we are having with jobs, deficits, and the recovery;

One more thing! with all the money that will be going into the economy all business will make more money, the big companies are making record profits now, they can afford the Bush tax cuts being reinstated until the tax system is overhauled!!!

give these lawbreakers 20 years hard labor

yeah baby

This is a recipe for disaster and revolutions are born from things like this ie (libbia, USSR, and etc.) Economic failure is a scary situation that everyone needs to take serious. If the next attempt to fix it fails and we go further into the hole, We will lose our credit rating further, there will be no funding to keep essecial programs running (govt, military, healthcare, welfare, and etc...)= federal level. State level folds if the federal level folds. its a house of cards. If the top piece falls so do they all. USSR fell apart due to economic hardships and became CWOIS (The common wealth of independant states). This is serious business Ie... people are already marching in cities all around the US. What is to say these protester wont turn violent or pick up arms. They have nothin to lose----no house, no cars, no jobs, and nothing to provide for their families-----This shouldnt be taken lightly. the rich dont care cause they can afford to run out of the country and take their money with them. They have companies in other countries. So they have secured themselves else where.

And when everything fails to restore order ladies and gents. Can you say MARSHAL LAW..........

If you don't want to pay your debts, don't create them.

I don't owe anyone, never have.

I live on 180 acres with an SS check of $556.00 per month. I have all I need and some of what I want. When I want something more, I work for it.

All of my life, I've never had money, and I've never been broke.

I guess, if I wanted to drink and do drugs, I'd need a little more.

Well, Let's hope there won't be another riot in The City of Angels again.

To all protesters; don't do anything stupid and.....violence in every big cities.

I pay my student loans religously. You can never default on them.....Makes no sense not to pay them. You borrow money in order to accomplish something, with the stipulation that you pay it back. I never said dont pay your loans nor did i say i wouldnt pay mine. lol I am happy you have 180 acres of land. Good job. Hate to pay your property taxes though. I dont know how you have that much land on ss and not a job though that doesnt quite match up without utilizing the land for ranching or farming. Unless your family owns it, but to the point i was making Economy sucks, Taxes are messed up, No Jobs, No light at the end of the tunnel, and with no solution in sight. What will come of all of this? who knows? I am just pointing out the facts of what is going on around all of us americans. I was a soldier and served honorably for your freedoms, and i dont understand how a vet can be homeless (not me)....While someone popping out kids left and right gets a free place to live, free food, free school, free utiliies, and much more. How is the system not broken explain how the system isnt geared for corporate america and the rich. Or the one popping out kids for a free welfare check. what about the people who work for a living paying all of this crap off with our tax money. How is this remotely a fair system. I have worked since i was a lil boy and still work every day. I am not asking for a hand out. I am asking for the system to be fixed so that people have to work, there are jobs created, people are taxed fairly, and etc... I am sorry you were thinking about alchol and drugs. I am not into that crap. I am a law abiding citizen or a Square!!!!

Hope the "Great American Poop-in" continues. This has been quite a Christmas present for all the Cops. They have reaped all the overtime they want. And of course, the money comes out of the city budget's that also pays for teachers, firemen, mayors, hospitals, and help for the poor and needy. These lice ridden, lazy, druggy. OWS, deserve the help and attention way more than the whacked out teachers and professors that taught them this ideology. It will be good when the teachers and professors get laid off because the cops used up all the city's budgets to protect them, and then they won't even be able to get free food or medical attention because all those programs will be shut down. What an irony. I love it.

The Federal Reserve and the big banks
fought for more than two years to keep details of the largest bailout in U.S.
history a secret. Now, the rest of the world can see what it was missing.

The Fed didn’t tell anyone which banks
were in trouble so deep they required emergency loans of a combined $1.2
trillion on Dec. 5, 2008, their single neediest day.

Bankers didn’t mention that they took
tens of billions of dollars at the same time they were assuring investors their
firms were healthy. And no one calculated until now that banks reaped an
estimated $13 billion of income by taking advantage of the Fed’s below-market
interest rates, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its January issue.

Saved by the 2007-2010 bailout,
bankers lobbied against government regulations, a job made easier by the Fed,
which never disclosed the details of the rescue to lawmakers even as Congress
doled out more money and debated new rules aimed at preventing the next
collapse.

While Fed officials say that almost
all the loans were repaid without losses, details that emerge from 29,000 pages
of Fed documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and central bank
records of more than 21,000 transactions suggest taxpayers paid a price beyond
dollars as the secret funding helped preserve a broken status quo and enabled
the biggest banks to grow even bigger.

Dwarfed TARP loans

The size of the bailout came to light
after Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, won a court battle against
the Fed and a group of the biggest banks called Clearing House Association LLC.
The amount of money the central bank parceled out dwarfed the Treasury
Department’s better-known $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.

Few people were aware of this, partly
because bankers didn’t disclose the extent of their borrowing.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief
Executive Officer Jamie Dimon told shareholders in March 2010 that his bank
used the Fed’s Term Auction Facility “at the request of the Federal Reserve to
help motivate others to use the system.”

He didn’t say that the bank’s total
TAF borrowings were almost twice its cash holdings or that its peak borrowing
of $48 billion came more than a year after the program’s creation.

On Nov. 26, 2008, Bank of America’s
then-CEO Kenneth Lewis wrote to shareholders that he headed “one of the
strongest and most stable major banks in the world.” He didn’t say that Bank of
America owed the Fed $86 billion that day. Bank of America’s borrowing peaked
at $91.4 billion in February 2009.

Spokesmen for JPMorgan and Bank of
America declined to comment.

Shoring up banks

The Fed, headed by Chairman Ben
Bernanke, has been lending money to banks since just after its founding in
1913. Starting in August 2007, when confidence in banks began to wane, it
created a variety of ways to bolster the financial system with cash or easily
traded securities.

By the end of 2008, the central bank
had established or expanded 11 lending facilities catering to financial firms
that couldn’t get short-term loans from their usual sources.

“Supporting financial-market stability
in times of extreme market stress is a core function of central banks,” said
William English, director of the Fed’s Division of Monetary Affairs. “Our lending
programs served to prevent a collapse of the financial system and to keep
credit flowing to American families and businesses.”

The central bank initially released
lending data in aggregate form only. Who borrowed and how much were kept from
public view.

The six biggest U.S. banks, which
received $160 billion of TARP funds, borrowed as much as $460 billion from the
Fed, measured by peak daily debt. Morgan Stanley was the top borrower with a
peak of $107 billion on Sept. 29, 2009.

Continued..

That was eight days after then-CEO
John Mack said the firm was “in the strongest possible position.” Mark Lake, a
spokesman for the bank, declined to comment.

With the help of the Fed’s secret
loans, America’s largest financial firms got bigger during the crisis. Part of
the boost came from a hidden subsidy – the Fed’s below-market interest rates.
The subsidy can be estimated using a figure banks call “net interest margin.”

It’s the difference between what they
earn on loans and investments and their borrowing cost. To calculate how much
banks stood to make, Bloomberg multiplied their tax-adjusted net interest
margins by their average Fed debt during the time they took emergency loans.

The 190 firms for which data were
available would have produced income of $13 billion, assuming all of the
bailout funds were invested at the margins reported, the data show. Citigroup
Inc. would have taken in the most, with $1.8 billion.

Assets grew

Total assets held by the six biggest
U.S. banks increased 39 percent to $9.5 trillion on Sept. 30, 2011, from $6.8
trillion on the same day in 2006, according to Fed data

The big six – JPMorgan, Bank of
America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan
Stanley – took 63 percent of the Fed’s emergency-loan money as measured by peak
daily borrowing, the data show.

Combined, the six spent $29.4 million
on lobbying in 2010, a 33 percent increase from 2006, according to
OpenSecrets.org. Lobbying by the American Bankers Association, a trade
organization, increased at about the same rate, OpenSecrets.org reported.

Lobbyists argued that bigger banks are
more stable, better able to serve large companies and more competitive
internationally, and breaking them up would cause “long-term damage to the U.S.
economy,” according to a November 2009 letter to Congress from the Financial
Services Forum, an advocacy group made up of the CEOs of 20 of the largest
financial firms.

Then-Sen. Ted Kaufman, D-Del.,
countered that some banks are so big that their failure could trigger a chain
reaction in the financial system.

So-called too-big-to-fail banks have
an advantage over smaller firms: Their borrowing costs are lower because
lenders believe the government won’t let them go under. The perceived safety
net creates what economists call moral hazard – the belief that bankers will
take greater risks because they’ll enjoy any profits while shifting losses to
taxpayers.