The 1% Had A Fantastic 2010 - Rortybomb

[WillyT]

The 1% Had a Fantastic 2010
Rortybomb
Posted on March 5, 2012

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There was a brief debate focused on the following question: would the gains of the economy continue to accrue to the top 1% once the recovery started, or would the top 1% have a weak post-recession showing in terms of raw income growth as well as income share of the economy? The top 1% had a rough Great Recession. They absorbed 50% of the income losses, and their share of income dropped from 23.5% to 18.1% percent. Is this a new state of affairs, or would the 1% bounce back in 2010?

Well we finally have the estimated data for 2010 by income percentile, and it turns out that the top 1% had a fantastic year. The data is in the World Top Income Database, as well as Emmanuel Saez’s updated Striking it Richer: The Evolution of Top Incomes in the United States (as well as the excel spreadsheet on his webpage). Timothy Noah has a first set of responses here. The takeaway quote from Saez should be: “The top 1% captured 93% of the income gains in the first year of recovery.”

Two charts, since it is important to make the strong version of this case. First off, let’s get some absolute numbers here. Here is income by important percentiles, as well as the change from 2009-2010. I include the change with and without capital gains, to make sure we understand that this is a phenomenon both in and independent of a strong stock market (click through for larger image):

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Link: http://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/the-1-had-a-fantastic-2010/

[Enrique]

1. so it made perfect sense at the end of 2010

to extend the massive tax cuts for the rich.

[geckosfeet]

2. Thank the supreme beings. I was worried about those poor rich people.

You know how sensitive they are about people being after them for their success and all. Throwing a few extra $'s to them helps them feel better about themselves.