What's Driving the Wealth Disparity?

The American economy has technically been in recovery for four years now, ever since it began growing again in 2009. While net worth overall has been growing since then, a new study from Pew Research shows that the bulk of the benefits have gone to the wealthy.

From 2009 to 2011, the average net worth of households in the wealthiest 7 percent rose by around 28 percent. Meanwhile, those households in the lower 93 percent saw their average net worth drop by an average of 4 percent.

There’s actually a very simple explanation for why this has happened. The stock market has been doing very well over the past four years, and that’s the source of much of the wealth for the nation’s wealthiest households. On the ther hand, more middle-class people have much of their wealth tied up in their home – and as long as housing prices were depressed, their net worth has been suffering along with it.