[anon114]

So Caron talks about the top 10% which is fine, but I think the really interesting numbers are higher in the distribution.

Top: 1%: In 2004, the top 1% controlled 50.3% of the financial assets while the bottom 90% only held 14.4% of the total US financial assets.

([6] at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_in_the_United_States)

The Forbes 400 would be the top 0.00013%. They own 1.54 trillion in assets. The US M2 Money Supply is only 8.36 Trillion dollars.

It's also been suggested that the general population are optimists about this situation.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/09/more-on-...

[yummyfajitas]

You are comparing assets to cash. The total assets in the US are about $188 Trillion, of which the Forbes 400 only own $1.54 (0.8%).

http://rutledgecapital.com/2009/05/24/total-assets-of-the-us...