Rich Get Richer (And No One Else Does)

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you have heard me say that while the recession may be over for rich Americans it certainly isn't for the rest of America -- and that the nation's economic playing field has been tilted to favor the rich, to the detriment of all other Americans. And some of the newest economic numbers vividly illustrate that (in a report by Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty).

The charts above show some of the information in that report. Note that the richest 10% of Americans gobble up half (about 50%) of the nation's income. Since the nation has slightly more than 316 million people, that means that about 31.6 million enjoy half of the entire income of this country while 284.4 million people must divide the other half. And the numbers for the super rich are even more ridiculous -- with 1% of the population (about 3.16 million people) getting about 22.5% of the nation's total income.

And while the Bush recession hurt all income levels, the rich have rebounded while other groups continue to suffer. In the "recovery" between 2009 and 2012, the richest 1% have seen their income rise about 32%, while the bottom 99% of Americans have seen a gain of less than 1% (actually about 0.4%). That means the richest 1% has gotten 95% of all income gains in this so-called recovery, while the bottom 99% are dividing up the other 5% in income gains.

And things are not much different in the stock market (which has also had a nice recovery from the recession). Note that most of these gains are also going to the rich -- with 90% of all stock being owned by the richest 10% of Americans. The bottom 90% own only 10% of the stocks.

Can you imagine a more unfair and lopsided recovery? The trickle-down policies instituted by the Republicans (and protected by their obstructionism in Congress) has benefitted the rich immensely, but nothing has "trickled-down" to the rest of America. This has created the largest gap in income and wealth between the rich and the rest of America in the last 100 years (since before the Great Depression) -- and as these charts show, that gap is continuing to grow (while the middle class shrinks and poverty grows).

We must return to a fairer and saner economic policy. But the Republicans have made it clear they will not allow that. As the party of the rich, they like things just the way they are. That is why it is important to vote them out of power as soon as possible.