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Bill USA

(6,436 posts)
Sun Dec 22, 2013, 05:36 PM Dec 2013

Any Hope Of American Equality Died In The 1980s (And Here's Proof) - HuffPo

LINKS TO THIS ARTICLE SHOULD BE POSTED IN COMMENTS ALL OVER THE INTERNET - esp. M$M sites!


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/20/angry-chart_n_4480633.html?ref=topbar



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Actually, the average incomes of the top 1 percent of Americans have grown steadily over the last century or so, especially when compared to the flat-lining incomes for the bottom 90 percent of Americans. But as you can see in the above chart, it wasn't until the 1980s that the rich really started to pull away from the normals.

We created the chart using the World Income Database, a collection of data compiled by a group of economists who focus on the incomes of the rich, poor and middle-class. The chart plots the average income of the top 1 percent of American earners against the average income for the bottom 90 percent of Americans between 1913 and 2012, using real 2012 dollars.

In 2012, the top 1 percent took home more than $1 million on average, while the average income of the bottom 90 percent of Americans was $30,438. Compare that to 1917, when the top 1 percent's average income was just under $300,000 and the bottom 90 percent took home slightly more than $11,000 on average.

So how is it that the U.S. income gap has grown large enough for us to claim the title of worst inequality in the developed world? There are a variety of explanations:
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The U.S. Has The Worst Income Inequality In The Developed World, Thanks To Wall Street: Study

A new paper by economists Facundo Alvaredo, Anthony B. Atkinson, Thomas Piketty, and Emmanuel Saez lays out just how much better at making inequality the U.S. is than everybody else and tries to explain how it got that way.

Since the 1970s, the top 1 percent of earners in the U.S. has roughly doubled its share of the total American income pie to nearly 20 percent from about 10 percent, according to the paper. This gain is easily the biggest among other developed countries, the researchers note. You can see this in the chart below, taken from the paper, which maps the income gains of the top 1 percent in several countries against the massive tax breaks most of them have gotten in the past several decades. (Story continues after chart.)





The higher the dot, the more income inequality has grown in that country. See the red dot waaaay up in the left-hand corner, far away from everybody else? That is the United States, where the top earners have made more while getting their taxes slashed by over 40 percent.

This echoes an OECD study from earlier this year that found the U.S. had the highest income inequality in the developed world. It followed only Chile, Mexico and Turkey among all nations.
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12 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Any Hope Of American Equality Died In The 1980s (And Here's Proof) - HuffPo (Original Post) Bill USA Dec 2013 OP
But we were promised Hope and Change in 2008 - truedelphi Dec 2013 #1
They would've regained nothing because it didn't exist. Drunken Irishman Dec 2013 #4
That graph would be highy disputed by many people I know. truedelphi Dec 2013 #10
LOL. Bill USA Dec 2013 #11
the scale doesn't allow a good look at the bottom 90% avg income. see database at Bill USA Dec 2013 #12
K/R PM Martin Dec 2013 #2
While the 1% has improved - it shows the 90% has always had consistent levels... Drunken Irishman Dec 2013 #3
But that does not take into account the increase in the labor force. zeemike Dec 2013 #6
Job creators!! progressoid Dec 2013 #5
The fruits of right-wing governance which has flourished in 'murika since the Gipper indepat Dec 2013 #7
Now we need to course correct. WHEN CRABS ROAR Dec 2013 #8
Everytime a hag calls a person a "Socialist", a billionaire get its bonus.* SleeplessinSoCal Dec 2013 #9

truedelphi

(32,324 posts)
1. But we were promised Hope and Change in 2008 -
Sun Dec 22, 2013, 06:32 PM
Dec 2013

And had the promisor of that Hope and Change not immediately turned his administration into a fast track for the Big Bankster Fraudsters, we in the middle and working classes might have regained our economic health.

And once his TPP passes, things will be much worse.

 

Drunken Irishman

(34,857 posts)
4. They would've regained nothing because it didn't exist.
Sun Dec 22, 2013, 07:22 PM
Dec 2013

Just look at the graph. Long before the 1980s arrived, the middle and working class saw minimal gains anywhere - as the line is pretty flat from the early 1900s all the way to today - and that is through a great deal of Democratic presidents (including FDR, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson and Clinton).

truedelphi

(32,324 posts)
10. That graph would be highy disputed by many people I know.
Mon Dec 23, 2013, 05:57 PM
Dec 2013

People here in Lake County were making good money, above $ 20 an hour, refurbishing homes, until the housing bubble burst.

Before that, many people were making insane amounts of money working at dot com industry.

It seems to me that the government needs to figure out how to prevent these boom to bust industries. And make the adjustments that are needed so we have steady growth in industries and not the weirdness we now have.

And right now, were they to come out of the closet, people involved in the semi- legal end of things are doing okay financially. In fact, the state of California reported in 2011, that some 125 millions of tax revenue was being supplied by growers distributors etc of medical marijuana. There were many decent jobs at medical marijuana dispensaries.

But in 2012, Obama reneged on his promise to leave us alone, here in California. Dispensaries were shut down, and 6,000 jobs that paid well were lost as so many of those places closed.

Many of those who lost those jobs are now on food stamps. So they have gone from paying tax revenue into state and Federal government, to being a drain on the government. What can they say but <sarcasm alert> Thanks Mr Obama.

Bill USA

(6,436 posts)
11. LOL.
Mon Dec 23, 2013, 07:20 PM
Dec 2013

Obama didn't cause the dot com bust, nor the Trickle - Down Deregulation disaster - or the reduction in taxes forthe top few percent - begun in Reagans regime. It's too bad the Three Stooges aren't around anymore. Curly could run for president and you could be his economic advisor --YUK-YUK-YUK-YUK!


Bill USA

(6,436 posts)
12. the scale doesn't allow a good look at the bottom 90% avg income. see database at
Mon Dec 23, 2013, 08:00 PM
Dec 2013

The World Top Incomes Database
http://topincomes.g-mond.parisschoolofeconomics.eu/#Database:

actually there is more than just the top incomes there. Piketty and Saez have it cut about every way you might want to look at it.

In 1941 the average income (in real 2012 U.S. dollars) for the bottom 90% was $12,234. The average income (constant U.S. 2012 dollars) for that group in 1980 was $32,413. In 2012 it was $30,439 - in constant U.S. 2012 dollars.

 

Drunken Irishman

(34,857 posts)
3. While the 1% has improved - it shows the 90% has always had consistent levels...
Sun Dec 22, 2013, 07:21 PM
Dec 2013

It wasn't the 1980s that killed economic equality. It never existed. Even your graph shows this. Sure, the rich got richer - but even before the rich got richer, it wasn't like the poor were getting richer. They weren't. The biggest increase came in the 40s and 50s, after World War II and the explosion of Middle Class America. Even then, the increase was barely noticeable.

zeemike

(18,998 posts)
6. But that does not take into account the increase in the labor force.
Sun Dec 22, 2013, 07:59 PM
Dec 2013

That 90% pie was being split up between more and more workers as we went from a agriculture economy to an industrial one.

indepat

(20,899 posts)
7. The fruits of right-wing governance which has flourished in 'murika since the Gipper
Sun Dec 22, 2013, 08:04 PM
Dec 2013

first foisted his trickle-down voodoo economics upon a deliriously jubilant nation and which changed little during two subsequent Democratic administrations.

SleeplessinSoCal

(8,998 posts)
9. Everytime a hag calls a person a "Socialist", a billionaire get its bonus.*
Sun Dec 22, 2013, 08:27 PM
Dec 2013

Just remember those talking points and who they benefit.

* tip of the hat to "It's a Wonderful Life"

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