income inequality

[Old Rocks]

Another legacy of President George W. Bush: massive income inequality
Peter Cohan
Aug 14th 2009 at 4:00PMText SizeAAA More

George W. Bush left so many memorable things in his wake. Sure, there were those two wars. And then there's that legacy of white-hot hate wielded by wacky multimillionaire talking heads. However, for a legacy that keeps on giving, W's greatest leave-behind is a level of income inequality that outpaces even that of the Roaring '20s that led to the Great Depression.

In 2007, the top .001 percent of American earners took home 6 percent of total U.S. wages -- about twice the figure for 2000, notes Emmanuel Saez, an economics professor at University of California–Berkeley. Saez also found that the top 10 percent of American earners pulled in 49.7 percent of total wages: a level "higher than any other year since 1917 and even surpasses 1928."

Another legacy of President George W. Bush: massive income inequality

 

[goldcatt]

To be fair, income inequality has been widening since Reagan. It got worse under Bush but I'm not sure how much of it was his policies and how much of it was systemic.

Oh dear Lord, now I'm defending Bush!

 

[Toro]

Actually, income inequality has been structurally widening since the late 60s.

But here is an interesting graph.

Economist's View: The Trickle-Up Economy