Wisconsin income gap widening faster than nation as a whole

[n2doc]

MIKE IVEY | The Capital Times

Income inequality in Wisconsin is increasing at a faster rate than the nation as a whole, a trend that authors of a new report warn is causing social upheaval and straining government services.

The top 1 percent in Wisconsin — households with incomes over $283,000 — captured 15.7 percent of all the income generated in the state in 2011. That compares to a 7 percent slice for the top 1 percent four decades ago, according to a joint report issued by the liberal-leaning UW-Madison’s Center on Wisconsin Strategy and the Wisconsin Budget Project.

Moreover, inflation-adjusted income for the bottom 99 percent of Wisconsin residents has actually fallen by 0.4 percent since 1979 while incomes for the upper 1 percent more than doubled over the period.

“Put another way, all the growth in income that occurred between 1979 and 2011 in Wisconsin wound up in the pockets of the top 1 percent,” says the report released Friday.



Read more: http://host.madison.com/news/local/writers/mike_ivey/wisconsin-income-gap-widening-faster-than-nation-as-a-whole/article_acc8a776-a0be-11e3-a5f1-001a4bcf887a.html

[lostincalifornia]

1. If they do not like those percentages the populous should elect people that don't represent the 1%

[Ed Suspicious]

2. Great idea, genius.

Last edited Sun Mar 2, 2014, 10:51 AM - Edit history (1)

[Jackpine Radical]

3. Aw, crap.

Why didn't WE think of that?

[mokawanis]

4. Why didn't we think of that?

Perhaps gerrymandering comes into play here, and the fact that candidates like Walker get obscene amounts of money from the Koch brothers and other wealthy people who can't abide the idea of a level playing field in WI politics.

[Scuba]

5. Or as Scott Walker says, "It's working."

[ladym55]

6. Every time I read something like this I want to cry

I love Wisconsin. My husband is a native, and both he and our son are grads of UW-Madison. To see all that is good in Wisconsin smashed to hell in such short order by Scott Walker and his gerrymandered legislative buddies is just heart-breaking.

Our son is a teacher and after subbing for close to two years in Wisconsin left behind his friends to teach in a totally different part of the country.

BTW, I live in Ohio ... another state being trashed by one of Scott's good buddies, John Kasich.

[AllyCat]

7. And that is by design.