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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRobert Reich: "By 1928, the top 1% was raking in an astounding 23.94 percent..."
http://robertreich.org/post/24974761785Why The Economy Cant Get Out of First Gear
TUESDAY, JUNE 12, 2012
Rarely in history has the cause of a major economic problem been so clear yet have so few been willing to see it.
- snip -
The answer is in front of our faces. Its because American consumers, whose spending is 70 percent of economic activity, dont have the dough to buy enough to boost the economy and they can no longer borrow like they could before the crash of 2008.
- snip -
How? We might learn something from history. During the 1920s, income concentrated at the top. By 1928, the top 1 percent was raking in an astounding 23.94 percent of the total (close to the 23.5 percent the top 1 percent got in 2007) according to analyses of tax records by my colleague Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty. At that point the bubble popped and we fell into the Great Depression.
- snip-
The result: By 1957, the top 1 percent of Americans raked in only 10.1 percent of total income. Most of the rest went to a growing middle class whose members fueled the greatest economic boom in the history of the world.
Get it? We wont get out of first gear until the middle class regains the bargaining power it had in the first three decades after World War II to claim a much larger share of the gains from productivity growth.
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Robert Reich: "By 1928, the top 1% was raking in an astounding 23.94 percent..." (Original Post)
Hissyspit
Jun 2012
OP
orwell
(7,775 posts)1. Stating the obvious...
...but it's nice that someone is making an attempt.
Thanks...
Jim Lane
(11,175 posts)2. We can hope that QUANTIFYING the obvious will reach some people. (n/t)
tanyev
(42,618 posts)3. No, Robert. You've got to get the percentage much, much higher
so the trickle down finally starts surging over the edge. 50, 60, 70%. The only reason it's never really worked yet is because the socialist commie Demoncrats have never allowed that percentage to get high enough to start working.
gkhouston
(21,642 posts)4. "yet have so few been willing to see it".
Actually, the 99% are pretty aware of this, Robert. It's just the media and many politicians who aren't willing to see it.