Not all Americans would choose to be rich

But most would - 63 percent of those sampled by Gallup. That's up three points from when the survey was taken in 1996. The numbers are virtually identical for Democrats and Republicans, but the breakout by age group is somewhat varied, with only 50 percent of those 65 and older wanting to be rich as opposed to 72 percent of those 30 to 49. On the question of whether they will ever be rich:

Very likely: 7%
Somewhat likely: 21%
Not very likely: 40%
Not at all likely: 32%

The variances over the years are small, but for what it's worth 10 percent of those surveyed in 1996 and 2003 - both considerably stronger economic periods - said it was very likely they would one day be rich.

LA Observed photo