The Gap Between the Rich and the Rest of Us Is The Widest It's Been In 30 Years. Here's One Reason Why.

Lots of Americans don't have bank accounts.

—By Erika Eichelberger | Fri Dec. 26, 2014 6:15 AM EST

The wealth gap between the richest 20 percent of Americans and everyone else is the widest it's been in three decades, according to a report released last week by the Pew Research Center. Many factors contribute to this great divide: tax rates on the rich have been falling for decades; the Great Recession decimated the assets of a lot of low- and middle-income folks; and technology is replacing workers. One often-overlooked factor, though, is that 16.7 million poor Americans don't have a bank account. Lack of access to this basic financial tool cramps poor Americans' ability to prove credit-worthiness and build assets, and forces them to rely on expensive alternative financial services, trapping them in a cycle of debt and instability.