Well you sir would then be a member of that handful. The income on the Adsense network is just like the income distribution of America: 1% control 80%.

I think you're underestimating the number of people who'd be doing OK out of it.

You said, "I would venture a guess that there are no more than a handful of people in the world making more than $100/month."

A handful would be fewer than a dozen, surely? There'd be thousands making more than $100/month. Actually, there'd be thousands making more than $10k/month IMO.

meh, I guess my idea of what I thought a handful of people meant was lower than everyone elses opinion. By handful, I mean a small percentage. Since there are so many publishers on Adsense, a small percentage of that is still a good amount of people.

Saying "small percentage" would've removed that ambiguity.

Now, regardless, the majority trying AdSense make bugger all because they're clowns, half-arsed, give up early, don't know what they're doing, etc. Anyone with either some luck or a half-decent plan, some ability and persistence can build up some passive income or at least give it a shot for free.