The Uneven Recovery In Our Sick Economy

The two charts above were made from information contained in a study at the University of California at Berkeley  by Emmanuel Saez. It shows the rise in income during the recovery from the Bush recession, and who has gotten that rise in income.

Note that the income for the richest 1% of Americans rose by about 31.4% between 2009 and 2012, while the income for the bottom 99% of all Americans rose by only 0.4%. That means the top 1% got 95% of all income gained in the recovery, and the bottom 99% got only 5%. There couldn't be a better definition of income inequality than this.

The rich have not only recovered everything they lost in the recession, but are once again making record profits and/or incomes. They like this pitiful economy, because stocks are going through the roof (which represents most of the income for many of them), while corporations and other businesses can pay less and less in wages thanks to high unemployment and lots of desperate people wanting work at any price.

Meanwhile, most other Americans are still mired in the effects of the recession. Those with a job have stagnant wages (which are being eaten up by inflation), while those who find new work must accept a lower wage, or even a minimum wage (resulting in a dropping of the median income), and those without work are reduced to begging for food stamps.

This is what the Republican "trickle-down" economics has done to this country. It benefitted the rich, and hurt everyone else -- and nothing "trickled down". And now they want to make things even worse by imposing a severe austerity, which cuts help for those at the bottom while lowering taxes for those at the top. It is an insane economic theory that is quickly turning our democracy into a plutocracy.