 How many of these cars and appliances we're talking about are one breakdown away from needing a replacement that the owners can no longer afford? How many of these homes are essentially coffins, inasmuch as the "owners" will die long before the home is paid off? compare the assets of the bottom 0 quintiles with comparable societies in terms of population size Ooooh, let's do that with the top quintile, too. I think you'll find that that quintile is disproportionately wealthy in our society in a way that they are not in others. 