The richest 2 percent of adults in the world own more than half the world's wealth, according to a new study released by the Helsinki-based World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1222-04.htm How's that Trickle Down working for ya?

What constitutes being rich is a matter of personal opinion. I can give you this statistic, though. In 2007 before the financial crisis, the disparity of wealth distribution in the USA once again reached the peak it hit back in 1929, with the top 1% of Americans owning 50% of everything and the other 99% of us divvying up the rest. Interesting that both times we have let wealth distribution get so skewed toward the rich, we immediately fell into a severe economic crisis.

The "rich and wealthy" may not exactly coincide with those in "highest income class", so even though there's a strong correlation there, they aren't one and the same. Even though my income level puts me squarely in the middle class -- and nowhere near the top of that class, either! (as we define it in the USA today), in terms of income I'm better off than most of the world. I'm guessing that I'm probably better off than, oh ... 75%? 85%? maybe more. I don't know "all" of the rest of the world, but I've seen enough of it to have strong confidence in that relative position. In the USA no one would ever suspect me of being wealthy, even if I liquidated all of my assets and sat on the pile of cash that could generate. It'd be an easy pile to watch over, let's just say that. Still, compared to "the world", I'm rich beyond the imaginings of ... maybe the same 75 - 85%. I have no desire to take wealth from those who are better off than I am to give it to those who are not so well off as I; and I covet none of their wealth for myself. It wouldn't work that way, anyway. For one thing, those people also have POWER which I can't even dream of, and that includes the power to hold onto their wealth and make others' redistributionist fantasies work against ... people like me. And I'm not ungenerous, but I prefer to direct my charity myself, and not at the point of someone else's gun. Just thought I'd throw that in there ... knowing how these discussions often go.