Something that troubles me about this recession/depression we are going through

My Great Grandfather was an industrialist. He owned Textile mills in Berks County PA. He was an extremely wealthy man, had the first car in town, a very nice farm/estate, etc. He sent everyone of his children with the exception of my Grandfather and my Great Uncle to college in Philadelphia. My family on my father's side was a rarity at the beginning of the 20th century.

My Grandfather was before the depression destroyed the family finances, he made the mistake of marrying for love and not the arranged marriage my grandfather had set up for him, he was disowned so he became a State Cop. PA dutch men are stubborn folks. He'd visit his Grandchildren but wouldn't acknowledge his son when he went into the house.

My Great Uncle the youngest in the family, didn't go on the family dime because my family lost nearly everything in the depression. The GI BILL paid for Uncle Billy. By the end of the depression/outbreak of WWII, my Great Grandfather and Great Grandmother depended on the sons they had sent to college for support.

I'm wondering if this is happening in this economic downturn which is being touted the worst since the Great Depression. My Great Grandfather was arguably in the top 5%. Is this happening to the top 5% right now or has the corporate structure we've enacted since than allowed them to escape the consequences.

Any thoughts?

The only rich people you hear about losing any of their wealth are those who got scammed in Ponzi schemes, and there is a
program that allows them to recover a portion of what they lost (up to $500K).

Nowadays they own wealth, which is more recession-proof.

And if you haven't you might take up writing.

But to get to your worries, I think times are very different now than they were before and during the Great Depression. The wealthy didn't have the security they do now. There were no bankruptcy laws or insurance plans to guard against loss. There were no Federally backed guarantees for your money's safety in banks. The rich have a number of nets under them.

The rest of the people also have it better than they did during the Gilded Age. Your grandfather sending his children to college was guaranteeing their economic future. College was not something most Americans thought about since most Americans never went to college until after WW II with the GI Bill. It was this bill that created the opportunity for people who weren't rich to make their lives better. It was the foundation of the middle class which really didn't exist as the massive economic engine that spread the wealth around. Before that there were a few very rich people and a very large underclass. They used to be called the working class.

Times are going through a revolutionary change again in this country. We can't know how things will change, but they will. Just like everything changed with the advent of automobiles, then airplanes, then radio and tv. Just think of how different things are now with the internet since just 1995.

I sadly didn't think it was important in High School. Once I get that down, I will be doing more writing.

Thank you for the compliment.

I don't know what this change means. Are we going backwards, sideways, or forward as a country.

They did their best to undo everything that had been accomplished because of Roosevelt's New Deal. And they did it with a vengeance.

We are going forward because we're now going into the future more.

I don't think that this country can go sideways. Everything changes too drastically every generation as each adds something totally unique to American life. Countries that go sideways are places where things don't change for centuries, and when they do the changes are gradual. And Third World countries also go sideways.

And it does hurt when a father, grandfather, great grandfather's fortune or plan for the family breaks down.

I am in no position to distinguish "rich" or "top five percent" from others, but I do know that I thought I was comfortable and no longer in my wildest dreams feel comfortable, financially, at all.

I wish I could be more specific, particular and detailed, but like a lot of people now, I'm confused, worried, upset and insecure to the point of being barely able to articulate what I think anymore.

If you're in the top 1%, your income is probably well in excess of $10,000,000/year. Nowadays, people who are that high up are very well diversified into multiple sectors. That way, if one sector caves in, other sectors will take up the slack. The rich of today are more sophisticated than those of the 1920s. People who have been ruined in this recession were probably overextended into certain sectors, like bank stocks and oil futures contracts, and they took the hit for the others who were smart enough to know that they should get out.

People who own several homes, estates, and several cars, etc. have lost big. The bankers who gave them the loans to buy that stuff in the first place got a bail-out. Somebody got left behind, and it wasn't the richer side of the equation.

The number of layoffs in the upper echelons has not hit the news yet. We know of MANY MBA's (previous CEO's), high level engineers etc. that are looking for work.

This 'recession/depression' only benefits those in the >1% bracket.

They will be buying up all they can.

We are being LOOTED.

My Great Grandfather wasn't one of the top guys, he was mid-tier rich.

I'm guessing since there is a Senator Rockefeller and two President Bush's that it never hit that top branch back than

My great uncles didn't go to Penn, they went to Temple, Drexel, and the Philadelphia Textile college.

Being able to afford for someone to attend school full time for four years, was not something most Americans had the luxury for back than.

class of businesspeople who mostly lost. unconnected middle-tier, & those who produced goods rather than their financiers.

the morgans, mellons, rockefellers, mortons, drexels, harrimans, etc. did well, & so did their upper management layer.

the truly wealthy are a very small crowd.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/01/30/americans-income-doubled-bush/

Bloomberg reports that, according to recently released IRS data, “the average tax rate paid by the richest 400 Americans fell by a third to 17.2 percent through the first six years of the Bush administration and their average income doubled to $263.3 million.” Much of their income came from capital gains resulting from the Bush tax cuts:

The drop from 2001’s tax rate of 22.9 percent was due largely to ex-President George W. Bush’s push to cut tax rates on most capital gains to 15 percent in 2003.

Capital gains made up 63 percent of the richest 400 Americans’ adjusted gross income in 2006, or a combined $66.1 billion, according to the data. In all, the 400 wealthiest Americans reported a combined $105.3 billion of adjusted gross income in 2006, the most recent year for which the IRS has data.