[Maximilian]

So what you are seeing isn't that the poor are getting poorer, only that the poor are noticing that more and more people are getting rich, and that the rich are getting rich faster and faster.

What you are seeing is that an entire generation of economic growth and productivity has benefited only a very small percentage of the population. The average guy has actually gone backwards, especially when you figure in affirmative action and government expenditures. This is not "capitalism" but a Marxian parody of capitalism. And we haven't seen the real bad times yet. If a real depression hits, you'll see pent-up hostility explode like hasn't been seen in the US since the thirties, if ever.

[Southack]

"The average guy has actually gone backwards"

No, the **average** guy has only gotten ahead of inflation by .2% per year in the worst periods of American inflation and wage changes.

That's not going backwards. See the graphs in post #15.

[FreedomPoster]

>>The average guy has actually gone backwards, especially when you figure in affirmative action and government expenditures.

How much of the slow/no real-wage-growth can be attributed to the enormous growth of the public sector? That is the one thing that has really, undeniably changed over the time periods of interest.

[ninenot]

and government expenditures

Thanks, Max, for the Insight of the Thread!!!

While earnings/wages have trended upward, beyond inflation, over the last few decades...

It's DISPOSABLE INCOME that counts--and pays the bills.

Taxes have risen at a far greater rate than wages, thus disposable income has decreased. Taxes rise, by and large, even when wages decrease.

From 1951 through 1997, Tax Freedom Day has advanced from March 10th to May 9th (and has hung around early May ever since.)

This represents a 16% increase in tax burden.

That's where all the money went...