Money has no actual value other than the value we attach to it. The barter system would still be practiced today if the participants did not agree to set a value on a piece of printed paper that represented the value of the goods and services they had to offer.
Our rational mind tells us that a surplus of money can not buy us love, respect, admiration or health, yet we know that an abundance of money can buy us opportunities, financial freedom, better health care, better housing, better nutrition and a more convenient lifestyle.
They call America the land of opportunity, but few would question the notion that it is also the land of contrasts.
There is very little data about the distribution of wealth in America. There is one source, the Survey of Consumer Finances, sponsored by the Federal Reserve Board,that does provide data from 1983.These data suggest that wealth is concentrated in the hands of a small number of families.The wealthiest 1 percent of families owns roughly 34.3% of the nation's net worth, the top 10% of families owns over 71%, and the bottom 40% of the population owns way less than 1%
