[Tublecane]

A: The is no “widening gap” between rich and poor.

B: Even if there were, who cares? There’s nothing wrong with inequality, as such. Often it means things are getting better. Try telling a kabillion Indians differently.

[DannyTN]

If this is only comparing income earners, isn’t it ignoring all the unemployed?

[justlurking]

The real problem with the recent "revelation" is that it is cherry-picking to reach a pre-determined conclusion.

Here's what has happened over the past 28 years:

Has the income for the top 1% gone up? Yes, the trend is upwards. But, notice the variability, and that 2007 was a peak year. After the Democrats took control of both houses of Congress, the economy crashed. 2008, 2009, and 2010 will be dismal, when those numbers are finally compiled.

And the share of national income varies as well:

The reason is that the top 1% gets a much larger portion of their income from capital gains. When the economy is good, they get more capital gains. When the economy is bad, they get less capital gains, or even capital losses.

In order to realize a capital gain, you have to invest money. A lot of it. And you have to risk losing some or all of it. If the top 1% stopped investing for capital gains, what would new or expanding businesses have to do?

Suddenly, business would be forced to borrow money to start a new venture or expand. What do you think would happen? If you guessed: "new job creation would be significantly reduced", you'd be absolutely correct.

BTW, if you think the top 1% have been getting a free ride, compare the above graph (share of national income) to the next one (share of federal taxes):

[Sergio]

bkmk

[MoJoWork_n]

Is this argument based on the “Entourage” effect?

Top incomes are higher than they were, at least according to the indices most economists use for those measurements, and the disparities between income levels are increasing:

Congressional Budget Office numbers: 1979 to 2007

http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=12485

CIA World Fact Book comparison of income inequality:

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2172.html

(The U.S. income gap, according to the CIA, is widening,
not flat, and it’s much closer to the disparities in places
like Zambia, Zimbabwe and Panama than it is to countries
like Iceland or Denmark.)

BUT

and this is a really big “But”

....if you count Drama, Turtle and “E” along with Vince, in the highest bracket, you can make the curve flatten out?