Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats. It turns out that a statement nearly identical to the one made by One Wisconsin Now was uttered in July 2012 by U.S. Rounded up, 41.5 percent would be 42 percent, the figure One Wisconsin Now claims. (Median wealth refers to the American family that is exactly wealthier than half of all families and less wealthy than half.)Īs for measuring one against the other, Bivens said the Walton family wealth in 2010 was as large as the wealth of the bottom 48.8 million families in the United States, or 41.5 percent of all American families. Meanwhile, the median wealth of American families in 2010 was $77,300, nearly 39 percent lower than three years earlier. Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now's executive director, told us his evidence to back his group’s claim is a July 2012 article by economist Josh Bivens, research and policy director of the liberal Economics Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.īivens wrote that in 2010, the wealth of six Walton family heirs was $89.5 billion, 22 percent higher than in 2007. So, Wal-Mart is not family owned, but rather owned by its stockholders on the other hand, according to Bloomberg and other news reports, the Walton family members still have control of the company, owning about half of the shares.
Walmart incorporated in 1969 and became a publicly traded company a year later.
Walmart was founded by the late Sam Walton, who opened the first store in Arkansas in 1962. One more point before we get to the wealth figures. That means a person with heavy debt can have little wealth, or negative wealth, even while earning a six-figure income. So, things like savings and retirement accounts, minus what is owed on a home mortgage, credit cards, etc. Wealth is commonly measured in terms of net worth - the value of a person’s assets minus liabilities. The corporation has been criticized for low wages and in December 2012, PolitiFact National rated as Mostly True a claim that more Walmart employees are on Medicaid and food stamps than other companies.īut let’s be clear up front: Although income and wealth are related, they’re not the same. Obama called the growing income gap a "defining challenge of our time." The pope said that while the earnings of a minority "are growing exponentially, so, too, is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few."Īccording to Forbes, as of May 2013 the international retailer had $469 billion in sales and 2.2 million employees, including 1.3 million in the United States. In the days before and after Black Friday, leaders no less prominent than President Barack Obama and Pope Francis decried the extent of income disparity in the United States and around the world. Based on online hits, it became one of our most popular fact-checks ever. He said in a Madison speech that 400 Americans have more wealth than half of all Americans combined, a statement we rated True. That reminded us of a March 2011 claim by filmmaker and liberal activist Michael Moore. "The Walton family, which owns Wal-Mart, controls a fortune equal to the wealth of the bottom 42 percent of Americans combined." The demonstrations aimed to "expose Wal-Mart’s shameful labor practices and support workers," according to One Wisconsin Now, which then made this claim: 27, 2013, a Madison-based liberal advocacy group used a mass email to promote protests that were planned against Walmart stores for two days later - Black Friday.
0 kommentar(er)
