New Data From The Fed Shows Piketty Was Right: The Rich Get Richer While The Middle Class Suffer

[xchrom]

http://www.businessinsider.com/piketty-was-right-the-rich-get-richer-middle-class-suffer-2014-9



New research from the Fed shows incomes of the richest Americans are bouncing back strongly after the crisis while average incomes have fallen. After a contraction in inequality over the crisis it now seems to be firmly back on the rise since 2010 with "gains in income and wealth shares ... concentrated among the top few percentiles of the distribution," the Federal Reserve Bulletin says.

The data show that the benefits of the U.S.'s economic recovery have failed to find their way into the majority of people's paychecks. Instead, the concentration of wealth among the top 3% of income earners have allowed them to start pulling away from the rest as asset prices have continued to drive upwards.



In essence, French economist Thomas Piketty's contention that wealth breeds wealth — and that increasing inequality is part of capitalism's inherent structure, rather than an occasional condition — looks largely correct, at least since the early 1990s. This trend has been exacerbated by the fact that stock ownership of the poorest households has fallen since the economic crisis of 2007, while holding of the top 10% of the income distribution has risen 3.9% over the same period. The average value of the top income group's shares are almost 18 times the average of the bottom 50% of incomes and about 7 times that of the middle-income group.

The trend has been driven in large part by the fact that the wealth of middle-income households is dominated by housing, which was hit hard by the financial crisis. While housing has begun to recover it has fallen well behind stock and bond market gains and has allowed those in the top 3% to increase their advantage by capturing more of the available income from these assets.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/piketty-was-right-the-rich-get-richer-middle-class-suffer-2014-9#ixzz3CR6Ydpoi

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/piketty-was-right-the-rich-get-richer-middle-class-suffer-2014-9#ixzz3CR6Ydpoi

[Laelth]

1. k&r for the truth, however depressing it may be. n/t

-Laelth

[cantbeserious]

2. Thank You For Sharing

eom

[xchrom]

4. ...

[RKP5637]

3. If the bottom 90% woke up to what is happening, quit falling for political rhetoric, this would

not be tolerated. There a millions upon millions upon millions of us. Why, do we tolerate this bullshit?

[Adam051188]

5. large scale lead poisoning?

Or we're all just naturally dumb due to poor educational practices and fractured communities because of drug war and immigration? Idk

[RKP5637]

6. Definitely contributing factors IMO ... " poor educational practices and fractured communities" ...

Also, some things the oligarchs say seem to click even in strong democrats. For example, someone recently told me they were going to vote for someone because they thought they would lower the cost of education. So, that is about 5% of the good in the guy, the rest is 95% bad, but that did not phase them. And, this politician is a liar and a crook.

[Adam051188]

7. yes

U.s. is not a democracy. The electoral college is absurd and forces the lesser of two evils approach. Lack of critical or analytical thinking has resulted in broken systems everywhere crippling everything that isn't privately owned.

[reddread]

8. essentially

but its only gotten worse since they removed the lead from the glass teat.

[freebrew]

9. It's the division, IMHO...

south vs. north, whites vs. non-whites, blacks vs. seemingly everyone, guns vs. bans, pot vs. not.

It's all the same. It keeps us divided and it's been working since forever.
Sometimes the rich go too far: France and Russia come to mind.
It almost happened here in the 1930's but the poor were appeased with the New Deal.
Now, it's an old deal with the banks and profiteers robbing us and sending good jobs overseas.
It was bad enough when many workers were replaced by robotics(Player Piano), but little kids
working for a grain of rice beats that shit. Power costs are high here, thanks nukes.

If the bottom even 50% can get together with a clue of what the government is allowing to be done to them,
"it ain't gonna be pretty".

It's morning, rambling over.

[RKP5637]

10. I don't know when or how, but it can't go on like this forever ... n/t

[freebrew]

11. My dad used to tell me that...

he was from the New Deal age. Loved FDR. Then voted for Reagan.

[RKP5637]

14. Yep, that's where the problems began, democrats mislead by Reaganism. n/t

[mountain grammy]

13. Because "Christians"

I think the strong evangelical base is leading our descent. Faith based destruction of democracy and the middle class.

[RKP5637]

15. Right or wrong, I've always felt the faithful welcome punishment as they are

constantly told they are sinners. I often think some view it as their god's wrath, because they are not faithful enough, and the destruction of democracy and the middle class is the punishment they welcome and willingly accept. And, they think they will eventually float off into their heaven. What a crock!

[mountain grammy]

25. "the opium of the people" Marx got that right.

[corkhead]

17. I saw this posted here the other day

tip of the hat to Scuba:

[RKP5637]

18. +++ 1,000,000 +++ n/t

[xchrom]

22. !

[daleanime]

12. From the school of Duh.....

the evidence is piled pretty deep, but will be over-looked some how.

[RKP5637]

16. We will go down in history as the period of greatest denial. I still have friends that

think it's their fault for not working harder, not holding more jobs, whatever. Damn, so many people are so woefully brainwashed in this country.

[valerief]

19. And rain is wet. nt

[marmar]

20. K/R

[maddiemom]

21. Well......Duh.

[Initech]

23. In high school I never quite understood why the Bolsheviks revolted. Now I get it.

[Enthusiast]

24. Kicked and recommended!

Thank you, xchrom.

[Rex]

26. But most of us already knew this, for decades now.

The wealthy are far far richer now, thanks to trickle down economics. We've all known that it was a horrible system that only helps the wealthy and hurts the poor and middle class workers.

[grahamhgreen]

27. Kick