Because of American Capitalism. That small group which you refer to is around 1% of the total US population yet obtains nearly 40% of the nations wealth. This can be similarly seen throughout the world with tiny countries such as Luxembourg being ranked among the wealthiest. A way they measure a country's wealth is through a GDP ratio which measures growth per capita. So, the population of a country doesn't matter because it is simply a measurement of how wealthy, on average, a person is in a country. With countries like Luxembourg, they pretty much don't have a lower class because of their significantly low population which consists of very wealthy Europeans. This is what allows the average GDP to be so high in relatively small groups, which gives the impression that they contain a large portion of the world's wealth.
I hope this helps you with your question and tell me if I got too far off topic or it doesn't make sense.
B/c talent and skill for accumulating wealth is concentrated in a small group.
It is like this in every field. Most music downloads are concentrated in a relatively small group of performers.
Most academic achievements are concentrated in a small group of students.
Finally, look at online games like World Warcraft - everybody has equal opportunity there, but most wealth is concentrated in a relatively few players, who have both time and skill to achieve it.
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
Because of American Capitalism. That small group which you refer to is around 1% of the total US population yet obtains nearly 40% of the nations wealth. This can be similarly seen throughout the world with tiny countries such as Luxembourg being ranked among the wealthiest. A way they measure a country's wealth is through a GDP ratio which measures growth per capita. So, the population of a country doesn't matter because it is simply a measurement of how wealthy, on average, a person is in a country. With countries like Luxembourg, they pretty much don't have a lower class because of their significantly low population which consists of very wealthy Europeans. This is what allows the average GDP to be so high in relatively small groups, which gives the impression that they contain a large portion of the world's wealth.
I hope this helps you with your question and tell me if I got too far off topic or it doesn't make sense.
B/c talent and skill for accumulating wealth is concentrated in a small group.
It is like this in every field. Most music downloads are concentrated in a relatively small group of performers.
Most academic achievements are concentrated in a small group of students.
Finally, look at online games like World Warcraft - everybody has equal opportunity there, but most wealth is concentrated in a relatively few players, who have both time and skill to achieve it.
Because only a small group wants to work.
Because making money out of money isn't as hard as making money out of nothing.