Wealth inequality study.

*The top 40 Americans average $3.4 billion in wealth each, contrasted with $6,840 for the bottom 184 million Americans.
* The top 1 percent own more net wealth and double the net financial assets than the bottom 90 percent combined.
* The divide is growing.
* High income inequality is one of the major problems causing the current recession. Rogel charted income inequality over time and concluded that two spikes indicated the start of the Great Depression and the current prolonged recession.

Also:* Large drops in the top marginal tax rates contributed to these spikes. The top marginal tax rate, currently 35 percent, is the tax amount nominally applied to earnings above a certain threshold, currently $379,150 for a single filer. The top marginal tax rate dropped below 20 percent twice in history, in one case leading to the Great Depression and, in the other, the current recession.
* With deductions, loopholes, and low capital gains tax rates, the wealthiest Americans often pay far less than the top marginal tax rate on their income. The second wealthiest American, Warren Buffet, reportedly paid only 17.4 percent in taxes last year.
* The ability to write off earnings as capital gains allows the wealthy to pay 15 percent rather than 35 percent on earnings. The capital gains rate is the lowest it's been since the Great Depression.