Just curious where you got the number $500,000<p>I've heard ballpark estimates that the total wealth of the U.S., the sum of all assets (bridges, buildings, companies, cars) minus debts is roughly $80-$90 trillion.  Wikipedia seems to think it's nearer to $60 trillion.<p>Assuming $90 trillion and 300mil people, if we divided up the wealth of <i>everyone</i> (not just the top 1%) and redstributed, we'd only get to $300,000 per person.  If the top 1% hold a third of all wealth, you've got at most $100,000 per person.