Top 1% 'richer than rest of world'

[finnbow]

This type of analysis presumes that there is a fixed amount of wealth in the nation/world (i.e., that wealth distribution is a zero-sum game) and that one's ability to make money or acquire wealth automatically inhibits another's capacity to do so. AFAIK, Bill Gates never inhibited my ability to make a good living. Furthermore, Bill Gates employed thousands of people and made a bunch of them wealthy. What's wrong with that?

This is not to say I don't support changes in the tax code aimed at higher effective rates for the wealthy, but I'm not sure it will have any real impact on the wealth distribution described in the OP. In a nutshell, I support taxing earned and unearned income equally, something the GOP (and their wealthy patrons) insist will kill the economy. It never has and never will.