evidence: Another way to think of it: The 3 million people who make up the wealthiest 1% of Americans are collectively worth more than the 291 million that make up the bottom 90%. The disparity would be even more stark if the report only counted marketable wealth and ignored the benefits of defined-benefit payments, such as pension plans or Social Security, the CBO noted. [...] But that increase hasn't translated into a higher standard of living for America's poorest. An analysis released Wednesday by the Financial Times finds that while the U.S. and U.K. have some enormously wealthy people, the poorest Americans are worse off than their European counterparts, with a lower standard of living than their peers in Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland or Germany.