Many people don't understand our country's problem of concentration of income and wealth because they don't see it. People just don't understand how much wealth there is at the top now.

A recent report by the International Monetary Fund destroys the myth that the current economic crisis—the worst in almost a century—was caused by fancy financial instruments, government intervention in the housing market or Main Street greed.

I find myself returning to the gut-level feeling expressed at the start of this series: I do not wish to live in a banana republic. There is a reason why, in years past, Americans scorned societies starkly divided into the privileged and the destitute. They were repellent.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The super-rich got even wealthier this year, despite the stumbling economy.