PDA

View Full Version : Income Inequality Worst Since 1920s, According To IRS Data



Gold9472
10-13-2007, 10:06 AM
Income inequality worst since 1920s, according to IRS data
Half of US senators are millionaires

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Wealthy_grabbing_larger_share_of_US_1012.html

Nick Juliano
Published: Friday October 12, 2007

The superrich are gobbling up an ever larger piece of the economic pie, and the poor are seeing their share of earnings shrink: new IRS data shows the top 1 percent of Americans are claiming a larger share of national income than at any time since before the Great Depression.

The top percentile of wealthy Americans earned 21.2 percent of all income in 2005, up from 19 percent in 2004, according to new Internal Revenue Service data published in the Wall Street Journal Friday (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119215822413557069.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news).

Americans in the bottom 50 percent of wage earners saw their share of income shrink to 12.8 percent in 2005, down from 13.4 percent.

"Scholars attribute rising inequality to several factors," the Journal reports, "including technological change that favors those with more skills, and globalization and advances in communications that enlarge the rewards available to 'superstar' performers whether in business, sports or entertainment."

The data could cause problems to President Bush and Republican presidential candidates, who have played up low unemployment and a strong economy since 2003, crediting Bush's tax cuts for contributing to both. In an interview with the Journal, Bush downplayed the significance of the income gap, saying more education is the answer to narrowing it.

"First of all, our society has had income inequality for a long time. Secondly, skills gaps yield income gaps," Bush told the Journal. "And what needs to be done about the inequality of income is to make sure people have got good education, starting with young kids. That's why No Child Left Behind is such an important component of making sure that America is competitive in the 21st century."

The Journal notes that many Americans fear the economy is entering a recession, and the IRS data show income for the median earner fell 2 percent between 2000 and 2005 to $30,881. Earnings for the top 1 percent grew to $364,657 -- a 3 percent uptick.

Scholarly research suggests that top earners did not have such a large share of total income since the 1920s, the Journal reported.

The Journal reports that a recent stock boom likely contributed to higher earnings among those in the top income bracket, with hedge fund managers and Wall Street attorneys seeing their incomes skyrocket in recent years.

Another prominent pool or wealthy Americans gathers regularly on Capitol Hill to write the nation's laws. The Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign spending and politicians' wealth, says (http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/overview.asp) more than a third of Congress members are millionaires, with at least half the Senate falling into the millionaires club.

Forbes reported (http://www.forbes.com/businessinthebeltway/2006/11/17/senate-politics-washington-biz-wash_cx_jh_1120senate.html) that last year's incoming class of new Senators did "little to shake the Senate's image as a millionaires club," with half of the newly elected members having seven- eight- or nine-figure personal fortunes.

Freshman Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) is worth between $64 million and $236 million, and newly elected Sen. Claire McCaskill's (D-MO) fortune is between $13 million and $29 million. R

Roll Call estimates (http://www.forbes.com/businessinthebeltway/2006/11/17/senate-politics-washington-biz-wash_cx_jh_1120senate.html) Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) is the chamber's richest member with an estimated net worth of $750 million; another Democrat, Wisconsin Sen. Herb Kohl, is among the chamber's richest with between $220 million and $234 million in personal assets.

beltman713
10-13-2007, 10:41 AM
Can anyone say depression 2.0?

beltman713
10-13-2007, 10:43 AM
I would have thought that the number of Senators who were millionaires would have been much larger than this article says.

Gold9472
10-13-2007, 11:15 AM
Me to.

AuGmENTor
10-13-2007, 05:50 PM
"Scholars attribute rising inequality to several factors," the Journal reports, "including technological change that favors those with more skills, and globalization and advances in communications that enlarge the rewards available to 'superstar' performers whether in business, sports or entertainment."
Please note the last part of this sentence. YOU GUYS support these cock fucks. I don't mean to come off as condescending. Those of us in corporate America make so little compared to the CEO's and CFO's of the companies we work for. Who won the game last night? Did you buy tickets? Watch it on TV? YOU have MADE these people rich! Rent/buy a DVD? Go to see a movie? Same thing. The poor, who make less, go out and SPEND that less to make these people richer! And it goes on and on and on. And people wonder why? WE are LETTING them do it! How awsome would it be to see Brad Pitt grubbing change? I switched to we, as on some levels I am just as guilty as anyone. But I AM cognizant of it, and DO try to minimize it. It is time for some major changes folks.

AuGmENTor
10-13-2007, 05:52 PM
Another prominent pool or wealthy Americans gathers regularly on Capitol Hill to write the nation's laws. The Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign spending and politicians' wealth, says (http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/overview.asp) more than a third of Congress members are millionaires, with at least half the Senate falling into the millionaires club.


This is fucking outrageous! Poeple should start to run for office based on a poverty plattform. I am so fuckin disgusted having read this...

PhilosophyGenius
10-13-2007, 07:14 PM
Dems really need to start talking about this.

AuGmENTor
10-13-2007, 07:22 PM
Dems really need to start talking about this.Dood, your puppyness is showing... Do you really think there is a modern political cure for what ails this nation? I weep for the future.

AuGmENTor
10-14-2007, 10:10 AM
Dems really need to start talking about this.Yeah, lets get them DEMS right on it! They surely are up to the task. WHat with getting the troops out of Iraq, and what with voting 180 bn$ MORE funding to the war, and what with taking impeachment right off the table. I have great confidence that they will fix all of this. They are a bunch or worthless talking heads. And they are RICH ppl. Don't you get any of this PG?

beltman713
10-14-2007, 07:27 PM
Yeah, lets get them DEMS right on it! They surely are up to the task. WHat with getting the troops out of Iraq, and what with voting 180 bn$ MORE funding to the war, and what with taking impeachment right off the table. I have great confidence that they will fix all of this. They are a bunch or worthless talking heads. And they are RICH ppl. Don't you get any of this PG?
:bigclap:

Well said!

Chana3812
10-15-2007, 10:17 AM
I weep for the future.

This is it in a nutshell. I feel totally helpless.

Even if some politican stepped up to plate to change things, he would be ignored by MSM and ousted because he is not part of the plan. (Dennis Kucinich, Ron Paul, even John Edwards = NOT part of the plan)

Dems and Repugs alike - they are both slime. Very few congresspeople give a flying fuck about the middle class american. And when they do, they are skewered by the powerful. (Cynthia McKinney)

The cancer has grown so big, there is nothing we can do to stop it. Things will get worse. Prepare yourself accordingly.

AuGmENTor
10-15-2007, 10:32 AM
This is it in a nutshell. I feel totally helpless.

Even if some politican stepped up to plate to change things, he would be ignored by MSM and ousted because he is not part of the plan. (Dennis Kucinich, Ron Paul, even John Edwards = NOT part of the plan)

Dems and Repugs alike - they are both slime. Very few congresspeople give a flying fuck about the middle class american. And when they do, they are skewered by the powerful. (Cynthia McKinney)

The cancer has grown so big, there is nothing we can do to stop it. Things will get worse. Prepare yourself accordingly.DING DING DING!!! The second thing we agree wholeheartedly on Chana!!! Well said, and I am in 100% agreement. nuff said.

AuGmENTor
10-15-2007, 12:34 PM
I need look no further than myself to see the economic barometer in action. I have seen a tremendous downswing in income vs. daily living expenses. My food, gas, insurance (of all varieties) is steadily going up at a faster pace than I can justify rate increases to my customers. I could set my prices at whatever I want, if I want to sit home picking fuzz out of my navel. I can't MAKE the phone ring. I'm saying that in the last few years I have seen the housing market (and thus the housing REPAIR market) drop right out of sight. While not being able to charge much more, I now spend well over double what I did for fuel even five years ago. Likewise food, although not quite as much, is steadily climbing as well. And yet, when I drive around my shitty suburb of NY I see the following: LOTS of traffic. Why are these people not at work? Are they all retired, on vacation, in business for themselves, what?
PACKED retail chains: Ruby tuesdays, TGI Fridays, Wal-Mart, Target, Kohls, McDonalds, Home Depot, Office Depot, Pet Smart, All busy as hell.
I think the point is that this is a rickity house of cards, doomed to collapse at freefall speed anytime now...