The Rise of the Super-Rich the rest of the nation is being left behind.

[rodeodance]

Anyone subscribe to this?


http://select.nytimes.com/gst/tsc.html?URI=http://select.nytimes.com/2006/07/19/opinion/19talkingpoints.html&OQ=_rQ3D1Q26pagewantedQ3Dall&OP=1bd68120Q2FeQ2BdseLoQ5CiiLeQ24Q23Q23HeQ23Q7DeMQ25eiTgQ27giQ27eMQ25LEOrgQ27FTigQ27Lot)LDO
TALKING POINTS
The Rise of the Super-Rich
By TERESA TRITCH
Published: July 19, 2006

While the wealthiest Americans are reaping the benefits of the Bush administration’s economic policies, the rest of the nation is being left behind.

To continue reading this article, you must be a subscriber to TimesSelect.

[swag]

1. Mark Thoma has posted the "inequality links" from that article

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2006/07/inequality_link.html

[Vitruvius]

12. Link to complete article:

http://donkeyod.blogspot.com/2006/07/rise-of-super-rich.html

It's absolutely top-notch.

Kicked & recommended

[swag]

2. Excerpt from the Times article.

. . .

The new figures show that from 2003 to 2004, the latest year for which there is data, the richest Americans pulled far ahead of everyone else. In the space of that one year, real average income for the top 1 percent of households — those making more than $315,000 in 2004 — grew by nearly 17 percent. For the remaining 99 percent, the average gain was less than 3 percent, and that probably makes things look better than they really are, since other data(pdf), most notably from the Census Bureau, indicate that the average is bolstered by large gains among the top 20 percent of households. In all, the top 1 percent of households enjoyed 36 percent of all income gains in 2004, on top of an already stunning 30 percent in 2003.

Some of the gains at the top reflect capitalism’s robust reward for the founders of companies like Microsoft, Google and Dell. But most of it is due to the unprecedented largesse being heaped on executives and professionals, in the form of salary, bonuses and stock options. A recent study done for the Business Roundtable(pdf), a lobbying group for chief executives, shows that median executive pay at 350 large public companies was $6.8 million in 2005. According to the Wall Street Journal, that’s 179 times the pay of the average American worker. The study is intended to rebut much higher estimates made by other researchers, but it does little to quell the sense that executive pay is out of whack. The Journal's Alan Murray pointed out recently, the study’s calculation of executive pay is widely criticized as an understatement because, as a measurement of the median, it is largely unaffected by the eight or nine-digit pay packages that have dominated the headlines of late.

Rich people are also being made richer, recent government data shows, by strong returns on investment income. In 2003, the latest year for which figures are available, the top 1 percent of households owned 57.5 percent of corporate wealth, generally dividends and capital gains, up from 53.4 percent a year earlier.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington think tank, compared the latest data from Mr. Piketty and Mr. Saez to comprehensive reports on income trends from the Congressional Budget Office. Every way it sliced the data, it found a striking share of total income concentrated at the top(pdf) of the income ladder as of 2004.

. . .

[serryjw]

3. Thanks for posting part of it.......

the inequalities sited are only half the problem. Americans have gone through tough times before during the depression. We are all aggravated because this didn't NEED to happen. This damn war was of choice, no bid contracts and incredible waste to benefit a few. On top of this; * CHOSE to give an unbalanced tax cut to his buddies that didn't need it at the expense of everyone else.

[omega minimo]

4. Welcome to "Trickle Down Economics"

Why do people think this started with Bush?

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Maybe that should be "Hoover Up Economics"

which seems to be a more accurate metaphor. The connection with the president at the start of the Great Depression would seem appropriate too.

[omega minimo]

9. 1980: "Trickle Down" 2006 "Hoover Up"

Very good MV :thumbsup:

and I admit I don't know enough about Hoover.

[ptolle]

5. choice

My thanks as well for posting this. And remember that if you talk to a real true believer frightwingshrieker you'll learn that those being left out of this "good economy" have come to that point by virtue of having chosen to be poor.I've honestly seen and heard this more than once. It's just about as close to violence as I get the assertion drives me up the proverbial wall, almost as much as people "choosing" to be gay.It may be the height of coincidence when you consider this state of affairs and some others in light of Napoleon's statement that religion is what keeps the poor from killing the rich.Someday, someone will look back on this time in America and wonder what the hell was everybody thinking.And I doubt they'll be able to come up with any good answers.

[Bamboo]

10. Have and Have Naughts (00's)

You could say people choose their lot by casting their vote with this administration.Bush acts the way he does because he is a product and the customers are the voters.The recent low poll ratings are due to the fantasy not matching reality.I hear the term "buyers remorse" like the President is a product that was falsely advertised.

The real problem is that people believe advertising,that is why FOX news was created.My barber has a television on FOX news and his truck has a Jesus fish and ribbon magnets.I asked him if FOX has Santa Claus talk about the Middle East on April Fools Day.

Americans vote image so the democrats should just project an image then after winning office issue signing statements.The independent voter is the least independent of them all,they are fooled by Ross Perot or any other carnival trick.Medicine shows now sell ideas,people then were fooled when the medicine turned out to be poison.Sun Tsu is fashionable with the opposition,they are handing us their playbook we should be grateful for the help.

[rodeodance]

6. "Rich people are also being made richer, "--sums it up well.

[serryjw]

8. Agre......the statement is insightful

They didn't earn it but rather it was thrust upon them Anyone can legislate a change in it's inherent equities. Remember that professor Elizabeth Warren ( ON NOW) wrote and talked about is. It has been a deliberate change for 30 years.

BTW, Happy anniversary of the landmark welfare bill that sent many families further into poverty
quote.......
Ten years after the landmark welfare reform legislation that created the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, new regulations set forth recently by Congress and the Administration place unfair burden on married welfare recipients and families struggling to achieve independence, according to Catholic Charities USA.


Despite more than a 50 percent drop in the number of families on public assistance since the overhaul of the nation's welfare system a decade ago, millions of families continue to live in poverty and struggle every day to make ends meet. Because of high cost of living, lack of a living wage, and the lack of affordable health insurance and housing, Catholic Charities agencies continue to see dramatic increases in the number of families coming to their doors for the most basic needs, such as food, clothing, and rent and utility assistance.

end quote....

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=69430

[yurbud]

11. trickle down always sounds like someone being pissed on

[Vitruvius]

13. One last kick.

:kick:

[dmosh42]

14. 'Reaganomics'

Being a retired union worker, I saw this coming when Reagan was in office. The funny(or sad) thing is the large numbers of working people who voted time and time for it. Well, the jobs are leaving in a tidal wave, and the wannabes are stupified. They thought they would be 'rich' Republicans too! Meantime, the same 'superich' are getting richer, and controlling the media so you don't get too many complaints 'trickling down'.

[Blue_Tires]

15. does this surprise anyone?

ttt

[Nikki Stone 1]

16. Nope.

The right (if it ever addresses this) will blame it on Clinton.