Income Gaps Between Very Rich and Everyone Else More Than Tripled In Last Three Decades, New Data Sh

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3220

Income Gaps Between Very Rich and Everyone Else More Than Tripled In Last Three Decades, New Data Show

The gaps in after-tax income between the richest 1 percent of Americans and the middle and poorest fifths of the country more than tripled between 1979 and 2007 (the period for which these data are available), according to data the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued last week. Taken together with prior research, the new data suggest greater income concentration at the top of the income scale than at any time since 1928.

While the recession that began in December 2007 likely reduced the income of the wealthiest Americans substantially and may thereby shrink the income gap between rich and poor households, a similar development that occurred around the bursting of the dot.com bubble and the 2001 recession turned out to be just a speed bump. Incomes at the top more than made up the lost ground from 2003 to 2005.

The new CBO data — the most comprehensive data available on changes in incomes and taxes for different income groups — also show the following:

* In 2007, the share of after-tax income going to the top 1 percent hit its highest level (17.1 percent) since 1979, while the share going to the middle one-fifth of Americans shrank to its lowest level during this period (14.1 percent).
* Between 1979 and 2007, average after-tax incomes for the top 1 percent rose by 281 percent after adjusting for inflation — an increase in income of $973,100 per household — compared to increases of 25 percent ($11,200 per household) for the middle fifth of households and 16 percent ($2,400 per household) for the bottom fifth (see Figure 1).
* If all groups’ after-tax incomes had grown at the same percentage rate over the 1979-2007 period, middle-income households would have received an additional $13,042 in 2007 and families in the bottom fifth would have received an additional $6,010.
* In 2007, the average household in the top 1 percent had an income of $1.3 million, up $88,800 just from the prior year; this $88,800 gain is well above the total 2007 income of the average middle-income household ($55,300). <1>


More at the link ---

[denverbill]

1. No surprise here.

This is wrong though:

"While the recession that began in December 2007 likely reduced the income of the wealthiest Americans substantially and may thereby shrink the income gap between rich and poor households"

Everything I've read recently indicates that the gap is growing worse due to the recession, as the wealthy got bailouts and the poor got pink slips.

[Oregone]

2. Proof that capitalism is working

Just not for you

[corpseratemedia]

3. so now the wealthiest have to steal from everyone else that put into social security

to make that gap even bigger and they can feel even wealthier

[OhioChick]

4. Color me surprised....not n/t

[Donnachaidh]

5. 281 percent RISE in their income -- and they scream about taxes and DEMAND tax cuts?

Are you f*cking kidding me?

That's what completely blew my mind in this article -- that obscene rise in income, and our government doesn't want to tax the living shit out of these people. WTF?