In 1915, an era in which the Rockefellers and Carnegies dominated American industry, the richest one percent of Americans earned roughly 18% of all income. People usually refer to the turn of the century as the era of obsessive monopoly and rich domination and oppression. Skip ahead to today, the top one percent now accounts for 39% of all income. And the top ten percent? They account for 90% of all income. The poor are dancing in so much welfare money. The poor rich people.