This is absolutely not how it should be. This pie chart shows the shocking distribution of wealth in the United States in the year 2007, when the financial system began to unravel. Keep in mind: 70% of economic activity in the United States is consumer spending. 80% of the population looks relatively unable to keep up with the “market will bear” pricing curve that the top 20% dominate.
Here’s another look at real income distribution in the United States:
How can we have real democracy, when so few people are actually able to access the currency of our economy? How can we have real democracy when this vast wealth gap dominates our economic landscape, even as opaque, monied interests are allowed to spend unprecedented, unlimited sums to influence our elections?
Joseph Robertson is Executive Director of Climate Civics International (climatecivics.org). He represents CCI in the UNFCCC negotiations and other United Nations processes, and in the Earth Diplomacy Leadership Initiative. He is Chief Strategist for Resilience Intel and the Climate Value Exchange, and a member of the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition Advisory Group. Joseph is a principal in the Good Food Finance Network, co-leading efforts to establish a new co-investment platform for food systems transformation and the Integrated Data Systems Initiative. He previously served as Interim Director for the Food System Economics Commission, during its start-up phase, and as Senior Advisor, Sustainable Finance, for the EAT Foundation. He is the founder of Geoversiv (earthintel.org) and The Navigator (navigatornews.net).
democracy witness 
[…] the United States, at present, there is a tragic wealth divide that has, for decades, been eroding the middle class. The wealthy hold most of the wealth and take […]
[…] SOME DATA: The top 20% of the socio-economic pyramid in our country control well more than 80% of all the wealth. Just the top 1% control 40% of all financial investment assets. […]
is this not the eternal battle?