O My America: Class Warfare Index

We ran Irwin Nesoff’s “Class Warfare Index” compilation on October 10th. Here’s an update.

Percentage of global economy controlled by top 147 transnational corporations . . . 40 percent (New Scientist)

Amount of derivatives investments shifted by Bank of America from its Merrill Lynch investment arm to FDIC-insured (that is, taxpayer-insured) banks in October: $55 trillion (Washington Examiner)

American median wage for 2010 (the lowest since 1999): $26,364 (Washington Post)

Decrease in average disposable income for Americans since 2008 . . . $1,315 (CSMonitor.com)

Percentage of total U.S. income earned by top 1 percent: 21 percent (The Week)

Percentage of cumulative U.S. wealth owned by top 1 percent: 33 percent (The Week)

Fraction of the Senate and House of Representatives that are part of the 1 percent: half (The Week)

Number of state and local jobs (teachers, firefighters, police) lost since September, 2010: 210,000 (Los Angeles Times)