Last week, the U.S. Federal Reserve released new data on the growing
importance of share ownership in family wealth. Continuation of this trend unquestionably will have profound implications for government and the economy.
According to the Federal Reserve study:
The percentage of share-owning families with incomes between $10,000 and $25,000 (in constant 1998 dollars) almost doubled between 1989 and 1998, from 12.7 percent to 24.7 percent. Between 1995 and 1998, the percentage of families with incomes below $10,000 owning stock rose from 5.4 percent to 7.7 percent.
Families are also saving more, and the biggest increases were among those with lower incomes. Rising stock market wealth and its increased dispersion among all classes of society will affect political attitudes at some point. The party that convinces the growing investor class that it will protect and increase their wealth will dominate politics for some time to come.
Source: Bruce Bartlett, senior fellow, National Center for Policy Analysis, January 24, 2000.
For text http://www.ncpa.org/oped/bartlett.html
For US Federal Reserve study http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/bulletin/default.htm
