Why is income inequality growing?

September 17, 2010 9:55 AM

Over at Slate magazine, Timothy Noah is doing a multi-part examination of America's growing income gap. The Great Divergence.
posted by Trochanter (6 comments total)

Great series, lots of links and ideas.
posted by acheekymonkey at 10:11 AM on September 17, 2010

I've printed this out and started reading it. First impression: the middle class is in decline. Shit, that's me...

This has been really thought provoking so far!
posted by chatongriffes at 12:44 PM on September 17, 2010

You beat me to the post. Great set of articles.
posted by outlandishmarxist at 1:17 PM on September 17, 2010

I started Googling as I read these articles, and I found another great Slate article about American tax rates: Debunking the claim that higher income-tax rates reduce GDP

The graphic is perfect, because you can see the complete lack of correlation between marginal tax rate and GDP growth. The marginal tax rate has swung from around 90% to around 35%, yet there's no correlation with GPD change.
posted by Tehhund at 2:06 PM on September 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

This is great! It turns out the income disparity is NOT because the Republicans are so much more generous to the rich than are Democrats. No, it's even more diabolical than that. It's because the Republicans are so much more stingy to the non-rich. Who'd have guessed?
posted by Mental Wimp at 2:22 PM on September 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

Because it's all about creating a neofeudal society in which the majority of people exist simply to work to increase the wealth and glory of a few.

Where's my check, Slate?
posted by Legomancer at 7:53 AM on September 21, 2010