Income Increases from 1970 to 2000

Income Growth Exponential at Top, figures from 1970 - 2000

Lower 90% incomes dropped 0.1% from $27,060 to $27,035

From 90-95%, incomes grew 29.6%, from $80,148 to $103,860

From 95-99%, incomes grew 54.2%, from $115,472 to $178,067

From 99 to 99.5%, incomes grew 89.5% from $202,792 to $384,192

From 99.5% to 99.9% incomes grew 144.8% from $317,582 to $777,450

From 99.9 to 99.99% incomes grew 322% from $722,480 to $3,049,226

The top 13,400 (.01%) incomes grew 558.3%, from $3,641,285 to $23,969,767.

Perfectly Legal, The Covert Campaign to Rig our Tax System to Benefit the Super-Rich, and Cheat Everyone Else, by David Cay Johnston p. 38 (chart)

So, 90% of us have lost ground, while the top ten percent have profited. The very top percent have profited tremendously over the last 30 years, and those at the very top have gained fabulous degrees of wealth.

Clearly, we can see why these people got the biggest tax cut, since , hey wait, why did they get the tax cut since they are earning so incredibly much more than the rest of us. Oh, that's right, Bush only cares about the top one or two percent, that's the way fascism works, master race and all that.

This is their big trick, focus all on tax-cuts, which are eaten up in the middle class, non-existent in the lower-classes, and only received by the very incredibly richest. This takes your focus off the fact that incomes are rigged in this country, and that the huge majority of us are just getting poorer, while a few of the richest families are propped up at the expense of the rest of us.

making 7 plus incentives in a union shop. today i am making 7.20 in a non union plant...some raise in pay....

Bad enough that wages have stagnated for most Americans.

What should really have people pissed off is the extent that the average American is subsidizing the wealthy through the tax system. "Perfectly Legal" lays it out.

A few examples off the top of my head from Johnston; Mortgage interest on second homes as well as jumbo mortgages for million dollar+ homes,
tax shelters, unearned income (while standard interest from savings is taxed as ordinary income), corporations moving headquarters offshore, lax enforcement of tax regulations for the rich while picking on the low lying fruit.

Wage stagnation has made the two-income family the norm as housing, transportation(cars/insurance), and health care costs have exploded.

Sure TVs and computers are cheap. For the most part,Americans have been fooled by the tax cut propaganda that has spewed out over the past 25 years. That has served as a smokescreen for the attack on the worker.

The greatest propaganda victory of our time is that the ruling class has convinced the worker that unions and worker rights are bad for America.

I realize there is a lot more. Here is a tidbit: the top 13,400 earn more than 96 million of the poorest. That is obscene. Truth is, I'm just getting into the book, there is a ton more. I'm actually on this page. There are generation skipping trusts, and all sorts of other methods the rich use to get out of paying taxes. One notable one that I object to, is that they pay only 15% on earnings from stock sales, while often people in their income category pay the top rate. They like to say, hey, this money is taxed already, but no, it isn't any more than when we buy a twinkie and get sales-tax laid on top of the purchase price. Capital gains was once taxed as regular income, but now it gets this special rate.

Good book for anyone to get who's been lied to by talk radio and the lying boob tube for years.

I was thinking, isn't it interesting that televisions, radio's, any sort of video equipment has depreciated more than anything else. They want to make sure everyone has three or four brainwashing elements in their house. In four years the price of a 19" television has gone from nearly $200 to $99, a tremendous reduction in price.

Look into my boob tube, you are getting your gray-matter scrambled.

You'll need them because what you're about to read will make you feel like your head is about to explode. It'll make you mad as hell....

My head has been about to explode for some time. I've read some of this in dribs and drabs in other books. This is just specifically focused on this. Hopefully, the infusion of new liberal networks will get some of this out in the discussion, I know Johnston has been on several shows, including Air America, C-Span, and CNN, even O'Reilly.

It's all about brainwashing by the media. Same thing with Dean, though some here won't ever admit they've been manipulated. I haven't seen such a trashing of a candidate by the media (and the Democrats (Republicrats??)) since, well, since Gore. And then they'll have some *sshole come on and call the media liberal, and Rush Limbaugh putzes will be repeating it ad infinitum. (boom)head exploded, got to quit.

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All of the figures are adjusted, or they'd be relatively meaningless.

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I applaud the current Democratic braintrust for correctly identifying the fact that the current government unfairly favors the rich in its monetary policy. However, I'm a little bit concerned about the momentum gathering in left-wing politics as a reaction to Bush's idiocy. If most of you had your way, I'd expect to see new federal monetary policy that explicitly favors the lower and middle classes while spanking the rich.

For those of you looking for short term revenge, I'm sure you'll be satisfied when these new polices do indeed topple America's upper class. However, if you put your emotions aside, it should be pretty clear that the best long term solution to our current problems is not to favor anybody, rich or poor. In short, the absence of any federal regulation of the economy.

Of course, then we'd have to actually work our way out of the current mess with brains and muscle. Then we'd have to place trust in ourselves and our neighbors. Rich and poor alike would have to stop asking for favors from the government and start relying on themselves to get what they want out of life.

This would be very upsetting to those who worship FDR and think that politicians in the ivory tower always have the answer. It saddens me that so many Americans today place so much faith in the ivory tower, and so little faith in themselves.

Ok your post was nice and friendly; I'll see if I can answer it friendly.

If social inequity get's too bad, yes, we'll go burn Master's villa down and take his stuff. If we're smart we'll never let it get that bad.

Personally I propose a tax based on wealth, not income kind of like the property taxes back in days (libertarians like you loved so much) that's how the state raised money. Whatever we do we have to make it so the wealthy can't cheat on thier taxes, which normally becomes easier the more money you have.

For every man that makes it into the top 1% someone else has to leave the top 1%. Any economic system that promises the wealthy, wealth indefinately isn't going to allow new people with new ideas to succeed them. In Feudalism you get your title and you sit on it a couple generations. In dirty free market capitalism you get your millions and establish a trust fund and do the same thing.

FDR fixed our country after people like Hoover broke it. Looks like we're about due for another FDR thanks to Bush. Who you calling ivory tower?

Most Cons try to make the point that taxing the wealthy discourages investment (supply side trickle down theory). First of all, the tax rates on the middle to top are almost flat now when you include SS, state, local, corporate, and excise taxes. The only accurate way to look at taxes is as a percentage of total income (including capital gains, dividends, SS, welfare, everything). Most economic studies I have seen do not report any disincentives in investment until the tax rates get above 40% to 50%. The current top 20% only paid a 33% rate before the Bush tax plans. There is plenty of room to increase taxes on the wealthy without any disincentive to investment. Clinton proved that.