The rich-poor divide

One percent of Americans held 39 percent of the nation's wealth in 2016, compared with about 22 percent in 1980.

 Meanwhile, the average annual income for the bottom 50 percent of Americans has stayed at $16,000 per adult over the last four decades, adjusting for inflation.

Most of the increase in wealth at the top has been due to fast-rising incomes among the very richest Americans; while annual income for the one percent has shot up by 205 percent since 1980, the top .001 percent of Americans—only about 1,300 households—have seen their earnings go up by 636 percent.

The top 10 percent of earners hold about 37 percent of wealth in Europe, and the income share captured by the richest one percent in the region has only risen from about 10 percent in 1980 to about 12 percent in 2016