Filthy rich

David Cay Johnston provides the jaw dropping statistic of the day:

Just 15,600 super-rich households pocketed an astonishing 37 percent of the entire national gain.

As he points out, the rise of the national wealth to the tippity top tiers of wealth holders has been happening for a long time under both Republican and Democratic presidents. Because, government policy encourages it and they just don't make presidents like FDR anymore.

But not to worry, at least 20 of these people no doubt feel the average guy's pain. Hell, super rich people lose money too. Take this horrifying day a couple of weeks ago.

The 20 richest people on Earth lost a combined $11.3 billion yesterday as global markets fell after European economic growth slowed and investors weighed Greece’s chances of getting bondholders to accept a debt swap.

Heck this poor rich guy got kicked right off the 20 richest people in the world list:

Lakshmi Mittal, chairman and chief executive officer of ArcelorMittal (MT), the world’s largest steel company, fell from the ranking after his fortune dropped $918 million, or 4 percent. Shares of ArcelorMittal declined 5.5 percent in Amsterdam trading. Mittal, 61, is now the 21st-richest person in the world with a net worth of $22.3 billion.

I mean, ouch, that's got to hurt. I'm sure they will all be brimming with empathy for the declining middle class peeps after living through such horror.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]