Please prove a link.

On the opposite side of the debate, there are statistics like these (drawn from IRS data) showing that the division between the upper and lower 50% of income was 26,415 in 1999. If your family income was over that figure, then you're above the 50% level. If you earned more than $87,682 that year, then congratulations, you were in the top 10%. Does $87,682 a year make someone rich? Perhaps in some parts of the country but certainly not here.

Wealth statistics are often expressed in 20% groupings called quintiles. Long term studies have shown that a high percentage of people who are in the lowest quintile in a given year will no longer be there in subsequent years. In my own case, I was there for many years while in school, enlisted in the military, and working my first jobs. When I married, my wife's income help lift us out of the lowest quintile but that didn't happen right away (we were still in college at the time). Over time, our skills and marketability increased to the point where we were well into the top quintile. This sort of thing happens all the time. At the same time, some people in the top quintile drop into lower income brackets due to things like a failing business, bad investments, divorce, or retirement. The quintiles are not static.

Statistically, it's obvious that there will always be people in each of the 5 quintiles. The level of income to qualify for each quintile is constantly changing, as is the people who belong to each one.