It's nice to be among the winners

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110223/ts_yblog_thelookout/separate-but-unequal-charts-show-growing-rich-poor-gap
Comment: Statistics like that spread half-truths. That "the rich" get more of the cake is only a part of the whole story. Much more important is the question: how long do "the rich" stay rich? As Schumpeter once remarked, it is with the rich like a bus: there are always some people in it but rarely the same. Who cares when the people who are in the group of "the rich" changes every couple of years? Modern wealth is quite different from the old wealth. In the past, i.e. up to the 1960s, "the rich" formed a pretty closed shop. It was hard to get in and you had to pretty dumb to fall out. This has changed in recent times, most dramatically since the 1990s. Nowadays, it is relatively easy (compared to the past) to get into the club of "the rich", yet the risk to fall out has also increased. It is hardly conceivable today that huge wealth will be maintained over generations as it was the case in the past. Nowadays you may call yourself lucky (or exceptionally smart) if you manage to hold on  to your wealth until you hit the grave. As much as one can gain exceptional wealth positions one can also lose it in the modern economy. That's the main difference between today and the past. And this fact makes all of these statistics pretty useless particularly when they are presented with a moralistic undertone.