I am shedding a little "lyte" on wealth today. A paper studing income disparity in the U.S. was recently updated. This paper, authored by Professor Emmanuel Saez of UC Berkeley, shows that the income gap between the poorest and the richest citizens in our nation is no longer a gap, it is an abyss.
Were you awake during history class? Do you remember the "Gilded Age"? Well, we are living in the "Platinum Age", the top .01 of wage earners took in 6 percent of the wages earned in 2007, and a frightenly 49.7 percent of all wages earned up to 2007. That's a rate not seen since 1917, and blew away the rate seen in 1928.
Not surprisingly, the rich got a lot richer during the Bush Administration, with the top 1 percent taking home two thirds of the income growth during the years 2000-2007. While the other 99% saw income growth, it was at half the rate seen during 1993-2000 (1.3% versus 2.7).
So maybe these angry mobs at these town halls are targetting the wrong issue and directing their ire at the wrong people. Healthcare reform isn't going to destroy this country, the Republicans already did.
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