Sorry, It is almost 20%, give or take few percents depending on the source, and in Iraq war. There has been many kind of statistics about it, and numbers have go down miraculously, but 20% is in the ball park. There is plenty of statistics about it, so there will be right percentage for every one 
Show me, get rich...oh..but you can't. How many of the people you have known in your entire life have get rich? No one. In real life there is only few % of people who has a little bit of potential to be rich, and only few of them will ever be rich. Why? Because your society is build that way. They let you believe that it is possible, but it really is not. If it would be, there would be more rich people. Remember, 1% owns more than the rest 99%. 3 million rich bastard owns more than 306071247 people. If you have born outside of that elite, you never get inside.
The average middle class American compared to the rest of the world is indeed rich. Very rich. Look at the life style the average American lives. Garage crammed with cars, more food than you can possibly eat (though we try), homes bigger than they've ever been, houses with movie screens for TV and more TV in a house than people who live there, just look at the average fridge in people's homes and that's not including the huge freezer in the garage, the list goes on and on and on. Compare it to China -- lol! Not even close. That's why American's are not yearning to live in China whereas the Chinese cram themselves in the hull of a ship stewing in their own feces just to get here.
And why do you care that there people richer, much richer, than you? If Bill Gates gets even richer how does that effect you? Does that make you poorer? Does your buying power decrease if I invent some gas saving device that make me millions -- even billions. And what do you want to do about it? If someone is wildly successful because they produce a good or service that people actually want and are willing to pay for which in turn makes society better and more productive -- what do you want to do with that person's "excess wealth"? Have the government confiscate it and give some it to you and others like you that are not nearly as productive as a Bill Gates who created millions of jobs, thousands of industries and enriched millions as well as himself. Those 3 million rich bastards are the ones providing the jobs. I don't know how many jobs poor people create but I'm going to guess not much. Maybe zero at most. And more people in this country have dramatically improved their economic condition than in any other country in the world. And I know many -- and I mean many -- that have started out humble and gotten quite well off. One started as a bag boy at Walmart and is now a district manager making almost $200,000/yr and with investments is a multi-millionaire. Just on a plane ride a few weeks ago I met someone from Vietnam who came to this country without knowing the language and got a job as a janitor at Jack-in-the-Box. Still with Jack and now runs the area extending from Cali to Hawaii to Guam. A house in Hawaii (average home cost here is $750,000) and a house in Marin County. These are not uncommon stories.
Our soft and cushy life style has bred a generation of spoiled ingrates that don't have the slightest clue of how much suffering and poverty there is in the world and instead of constantly shitting on this country in between their Happy Meals they should be kissing the ground. Which you would be if you had to live a year in China. (Forget North Korea -- you'd kill yourself before the end of the year or they'll wind up killing you anyway.)
