According to this article, the figure comes from Global Rich List, “a website that brings awareness to worldwide income disparities.” However, it only covers income, not assets (another measure offered from the Global Rich List site)-- to be in the global 1% you need to own (free and clear) over $744,400 worth of assets (top 10% is $71,560, top 50% is $2,200).
It’s obvious why right-wing publications and pundits would choose the income figure instead of the assets one to tell all the ingrate peons how good they really have it under the neoliberal consensus. Especially since I’ve seen surveys of American households that show nearly half of them don’t have enough in the bank to cover a $400 emergency.
