Read our editorial series examining the growing wealth gap in America — and how to fix it

More taxation of capital gains and estates could help shrink the United States’ wealth gap from the top down. The gap must also be closed from the bottom up, by bolstering access to the three key ingredients of middle-class wealth: owner-occupied homes, which represented the majority of household wealth for most people in 2019; financial assets, such as stocks, whose value, measured by the Dow Jones industrial average, has increased sevenfold since 1989; and human capital, in the form of training and education, which is highly correlated with household wealth. Seven out of 10 Americans in the wealthiest 10 percent have at least a bachelor’s degree, according to the Federal Reserve, but only 1 out of 5 members of the least wealthy half of society does. Overall, much more could and should be done to give the poorer half of the American population a stake in the nation’s growth and prosperity. [Read more]

Source: WP