The Middles Class Declines…Again

But the billionaires and millionaires…their profits…continue to rise.

AP/AXIOS/NYTimes

More than $30 trillion: That’s the amount of wealth generated by stocks’ 10-year bull run, per the N.Y. Times’ Matt Phillips.

• “Adjusted for inflation, that is the most created during any bull run on record, edging out the $25 trillion in gains during the epic streak from December 1987 to March 2000, which ended with the bursting of the dot-com bubble.”

The fruits went mostly to the rich, per The Times:

• The net worth of the wealthiest 10% of American families grew by double-digit %s.
• Median American family wealth dropped 34%.

Why it matters: “In the past, such episodes of wealth destruction cast long shadows. For much of the 20th century, the financial habits of the American public were heavily influenced by memories of the Great Depression.”