The super rich, and he says he's "not really" affected by the current economic downturn.
Robert Frank, the personal wealth columnist for The Wall Street Journal and the author of "Richistan," said there's a new model for wealth in America.
The Growing Wealth Gap
As many Americans watch personal investments like their homes go belly up, many of the super rich have seen their fortunes grow.
"The median income in America is still around $48,000, and that's been flat for about the last 10 years," said Frank. "Meanwhile, the top 1 percent of Americans control 33 percent of the wealth. That top 1 percent owns $17 trillion in wealth, which for perspective, is greater than the GDPs of Japan, Germany, the U.K. and France combined."
Even the top 1 percent's dogs live well.
But even Warren Buffett -- the world's richest man whose estimated wealth hovers around $60 billion -- worries about the burgeoning wealth gap.
"My tax rate is courtesy of the U.S. Congress, and the people that pay very high taxes like my cleaning lady, who pays more on her payroll tax than I pay on capital gains," Buffett said. "This has been a prosperity that has been great for the super rich, and it's been bad for the middle class and I think that should be changed."
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