'HOW RICH ARE THE RICH, IF ONLY YOU KNEW'.........CHRIS ROCK

Have been trying to understand the dept of this statement and it has taken so much of my time and thought strength because the statement can't be dealt with literally but so much to be consider in trying to decipher what really it does mean. is ok to share your own thought at the comment section.
Ref; Manzon Junior.

This article originally appeared on The Conversation, and is republished under a Creative Commons licence. The author, Gil B. Manzon Junior is an associate professor of accounting at Boston College.

“If poor people knew how rich rich people are, there would be riots in the streets.”

Actor and comedian Chris Rock made this astute statement during a 2014 interview with New York magazine, referring to the yawning gap between rich and poor. In so doing, he stumbled upon a key challenge in the study of inequality.

What’s the best way to measure it?

Most inequality studies have focused on income – measures of which are widely available. However, being rich is not about a single year of earnings but rather about the accumulation of wealth over time. In the past, quantifying that has been tricky.

Is Chris Rock right that Americans just aren’t aware of the levels of disparity in their society?

The wealthy would probably prefer we stay in the dark about how rich they are, presumably to avoid the aforementioned riots. People like me, who study the topic, however, are always looking for more data and better and more accurate ways to measure the rich-poor gap. And while I’m not one to promote violence in the streets, I do believe it’s important for citizens to be fully aware of the levels of disparity in their society.

The most revealing way to do this, in my view, is by looking at wealth inequality.