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Showing Original Post only (View all)Obama's Legacy Could Be an America of Aristocrats and Peons, Shocking New Research Reveals [View all]
http://www.alternet.org/economy/obama-legacy-income-inequality![](http://www.alternet.org/files/styles/story_image/public/story_images/aristocrat.jpg)
Warning: This story is going to make you very angry.
New research from inequality experts Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez has revealed that we now have the biggest gap between the rich and rest of America since economists began tracking data a century ago.
This isnt supposed to happen following an economic crisis. After the Great Depression, Roosevelts New Deal programs worked to prevent wealth from piling back up at the top. And over the past two decades, the percentage of income claimed by the wealthy dropped after each recession. But in the aftermath of the Great Recession, the top 1 percent has gobbled up nearly all of the income gains in the first three years of the recovery" a stupifying 95 percent. Economic inequality is even worse than it was before the crash. In fact, last year the rich took home the largest share of income since 1917 with the exception of only one year: 1928.
Is this an accident?
Let's take a look at the years from 2009 -2012. While working people were sweating it, the richest Americans have enjoyed a fabulous ride. For example, if you were in the top 1 percent in 2012, lucky you your income soared on average by 20 percent . And if you were in the top 0.01 percent, you probably bought a bigger yacht because your income was up by more than 32 percent on average . As for everybody else? They shared a measly 1 percent rise.
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Obama's Legacy Could Be an America of Aristocrats and Peons, Shocking New Research Reveals [View all]
xchrom
Sep 2013
OP
Actually Obama is the first President since Clinton to get tax increases on the rich.
iandhr
Sep 2013
#11
Actually all Obama had to do was NOTHING to raise taxes on the rich a lot more.
truebluegreen
Sep 2013
#80
JDP wrote the FACTS, I fully agree. Too much "spin", come on folks, this is our country we're
drynberg
Sep 2013
#202
No doubt about it. Now he is getting mudslinging from his 'loyal' Democrats or pretend to be.
lumpy
Sep 2013
#101
I'd like to defend him, but where are the prosecutions on Wall Street? Why would he push Summers to
hlthe2b
Sep 2013
#10
Obama is not a prosecutor nor does he make and execute laws. That is the role of a dictator.
lumpy
Sep 2013
#99
Oh, come on... Holder does report to Obama and prosecution priorities do involve him
hlthe2b
Sep 2013
#109
You've been thoroughly discredited. Do you have more to say about the benefits of education?
DisgustipatedinCA
Sep 2013
#227
"My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks," Obama told the bankers in 2009
jtuck004
Sep 2013
#137
Pretty much, he throws crumbs to the rest of the population in the form of
Katashi_itto
Sep 2013
#168
Agreed. Holder's role was/is to act as a figurehead until the statute of limitations runs out.
AnotherMcIntosh
Sep 2013
#176
Obama is a victim for being dumped on by the Bush legacy, and Republican obstruction.
lumpy
Sep 2013
#92
New tactic of bullshit rhetoric by Obama haters. It falls into the category of mud slinging.
lumpy
Sep 2013
#97
Isn't he the one negotiating that miscarrage of justice that is the TPP?.......
socialist_n_TN
Sep 2013
#62
Many people do, people critize him for not fixing everything that needs fixing and critize
lumpy
Sep 2013
#88
How has Free trade, repealing Glass Steagal, and media deregulation lifted up the middle class?
Larry Ogg
Sep 2013
#56
I seem to remember that bushie was president when we bailed out the banksters and wall street.
jwirr
Sep 2013
#22
Nobody told me that, I've lived it while paying attention to what is done, rather than by
Egalitarian Thug
Sep 2013
#69
Do you see that spike from '87 - '90? This one is going to force them to re-scale
Egalitarian Thug
Sep 2013
#74
Because you don't want to know what the answers are. There's no mystery here, we've
Egalitarian Thug
Sep 2013
#91
You're not my type. How about we start with something simple, eliminating the sources of
Egalitarian Thug
Sep 2013
#147
Thank you, but they're not mine. As I told cheapdate, solutions to all of these
Egalitarian Thug
Sep 2013
#163
Exactly. And anything he has done has been opposed head on by the rethugs. It is a miracle that
jwirr
Sep 2013
#23
Do your own damn fighting then, if all you can do is whine. He is not your savior.
lumpy
Sep 2013
#112
Exactly. Working people are the ones that have brought about change in the past. By gathering
lumpy
Sep 2013
#158
What is the Presidents economic agenda that you are working against, may I ask, Madam?
lumpy
Sep 2013
#169
Wrong! Syria and the blame for starting WWIII would be an additional point of outrage,
Raksha
Sep 2013
#131
Generally when people post articles on this site, it's because they embrace the thought.....
George II
Sep 2013
#46
Bullshit. People post latest news stories to keep us posted on what is happening. Not selective
lumpy
Sep 2013
#115
Well, posting a speculative article about Obama's legacy isn't "latest news", it's opinion.
George II
Sep 2013
#118
Truly, it has taken decades to get to this point. People expect miracles over night, especially
lumpy
Sep 2013
#127
No the order of blame goes Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama. They are all to blame.
liberal_at_heart
Sep 2013
#67
Because the other presidents are ex presidents. They can no longer do anything about
liberal_at_heart
Sep 2013
#89
Bullshit. Ex-Presidents certainly have a more powerful voice that the average citizens does.
baldguy
Sep 2013
#119
I will agree that they could add to the debate. But because they supported Trickle Down
liberal_at_heart
Sep 2013
#126
Call me when any of them come out against the status quo - and against their own records.
baldguy
Sep 2013
#130
When my kid suffers because the public schools are not properly funded and because Race to the Top
liberal_at_heart
Sep 2013
#136
Yet an ex-president's power is miniscule compared to the current Preisdent.
morningfog
Sep 2013
#213
Obama is just one man. The stuff you lay out for him to do can't be done in less than 8 years.
lumpy
Sep 2013
#134
I wouldn't care if he never got one piece of legislation passed. I just want him to stand up for us.
liberal_at_heart
Sep 2013
#140
He has spoken out re. many issues we care about. He has proven he has the fight, opposition
lumpy
Sep 2013
#166
People love to gripe about their 'poor unfull filled lives' of dire want. Who becomes the whipping
lumpy
Sep 2013
#121
The whole country is suffering because Obama helps perpetuate Trickle Down Economics.
liberal_at_heart
Sep 2013
#124
'Trickle Down Economics' is not a simple process. It has taken years for trickle down economics
lumpy
Sep 2013
#151
Sorry. I just refuse to let them off the hook. Just because it has been the way we have done
liberal_at_heart
Sep 2013
#160
We have to join the fight to make changes. Obama needs our help to get anything done in
lumpy
Sep 2013
#177
If by helping you mean vote democrat in 2014, well I will as long as there are liberal
liberal_at_heart
Sep 2013
#182
No, I didn't mean just voting, support groups (not with money) who have the same interests as
lumpy
Sep 2013
#184
"This isn’t supposed to happen following an economic crisis." Well in this one we rewarded the
Safetykitten
Sep 2013
#33
They live in their own little bubble. They have no idea what regular people go through on a day to
liberal_at_heart
Sep 2013
#66
Well to be fair, we have to go back to caveman times, as this trend was in full swing...
Safetykitten
Sep 2013
#58
I'd like to know who the author is, but I don't want them to have a click to show their advertisers.
Kolesar
Sep 2013
#77
Why does the President feel compelled to compromise the working man to appease "jerk-asses"?
mick063
Sep 2013
#100
I find it easy to point the finger because the President only has spine for bad policy.
mick063
Sep 2013
#154
Not by accident, but by design with the three major branches of government in cahoots with big
indepat
Sep 2013
#93
Why don't you and the article writer point out the historical obstructionism of
bluestate10
Sep 2013
#102
without the majority in the house and a 51 votes majority in senate there is little that he can do.
madrchsod
Sep 2013
#179
I wonder what this country would be like if they would spend more time thinking about issues
lumpy
Sep 2013
#186
yes, if I don't vote democrat I am sure I will blamed for the loss. I don't give a shit.
liberal_at_heart
Sep 2013
#189
This is what happens when you ask the "best minds" in DC what to do....
Spitfire of ATJ
Sep 2013
#191
K&R The record shows aggressive, proactive pursuit of a coporate agenda,
woo me with science
Sep 2013
#200
There are dozens of threads criticizing Congress as well. Look at the threads that talk about how
liberal_at_heart
Sep 2013
#222