MIM Notes 210 May 15, 2000 Wall Street Journal reports capitalist class Top 2.5% owns $6.7 trillion In April, the Wall Street Journal reported figures that MIM frequently cites from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). 4.4 million people comprising the top 2.5% of wealth-holders own $6.7 trillion as of 1995. To be included in the group of 4.4 million, one had to own at least $600,000 in assets. The top 1% of wealth holders account for 22.5% of all wealth while the top 2.5% owns 27.4% of all U.$. wealth. 63% of the group was male and the average female in the group was worth $1.38 million and the average male was worth $1.37 million. Needless to say, the female bourgeoisie by itself is bigger than the entire bourgeoisie of any Third World country and most imperialist countries too. It would be stretching it to say that all 2.5% of top wealth- holders are capitalists, because $600,000 is on the low side to live off one's wealth without working. However, if we do count this group as the capitalist class of the United $tates, then we have an idea of the wealth of ruling class and a sense of proportion. MIM has calculated that after super-profits from the Third World and discrimination profits within U.S. borders, there is no way to see any profits extracted from the imperialist country workers. The top 2.5% only owns $6.7 trillion and that means its profits are closer to $500 billion a year. Many imperialist country parasites calling themselves "leftist" or even "communist" have no sense of the proportion of the imperialists' wealth and assume that the salaries of white workers could be doubled or some such nonsense. In reality, the imperialist country workers already take in more than they are worth in their labor expended. Notes: 1. Wall Street Journal 19April2000, p. 1. 2. See MT #10, p. 55 for MIM's explanation of the above statistics.