why we're in our present pickle: 1986 income distribution & taxes v. 2005

[Hannah Bell]

1986 v. 2005


Share of total income:

Top 1%: 11%, 21%
Top 50%: 83%, 87%

Bottom 50%: 17%, 13%

Average income tax rate:

Top 1%: 33%, 23%
Top 50%: 16%, 14%



Percent of income taxes paid:

Top 1%: 26%, 39%
Top 50%: 94%, 97%



http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/05in05tr.xls


When too much money flows to the top, the rich "invest" it in frothy bubbles & conspicuous consumption.

You don't have any money, so why would they invest it in "businesses" there's no demand for?

Profit is king; in an economy where most of the money's at the top, the biggest profits come from crime.

To see what your future looks like under such a regime, think of latin american kleptocracies; wealthy estates surrounded by barbed wire & hundreds of shacks, with drug gangs in charge of the shack turf.

A tiny middle class which exists to serve the rich & sell basics to the peons at inflated prices.

[dkf]

1. 2005 is eons ago. What does more recent data look like?

[Hannah Bell]

2. 2005 is five years ago. have you noticed any recent "reforms" that would change that picture much?

did the top 1% start paying higher income tax rates or taking a smaller share of total income?

the only thing that would have changed is a little drop during the "recession"

which is still a depression for the bottom 50%, but now happy days again for the top 1%.

The bottom half of the country gets 13% of its income.

That's the problem in a nutshell.

And nothing on the horizon is going to change that. In fact, the budget crisis in the states & the layoffs of state workers + the union-busting education agenda is going to make it much worse.

[dkf]

3. I know quite a few people whose incomes have fallen significantly.

This economy is pretty rough and they've lost a whole lot of money in real estate and the stock market and their businesses have gotten hit pretty hard.

[Hannah Bell]

5. so do i. only they ain't rich. see how that works? profits are up.

the fact that you know some people who've lost money means only that they're not part of the top 1% anymore, not that the top 1% has lost.

The top 1% is as rich as ever, those some of its members have changed.

[Hannah Bell]

6. k

[Scruffy1]

7. I know quite a few who sleep under the bridge.

[Hannah Bell]

8. quite a few former top 1%-ers?

[dkf]

11. That is actually another point. The top 1% we are mad at now aren't the

Top 1% that got all the gains. It's an amorphous population that changes from year to year. Yet we talk of them like they are an evil specific group of individuals. If a super rich person put all their funds in munis we will never touch their income again.

[Hannah Bell]

12. part of it changes year to year, part doesn't. the part that doesn't is the most important part.

and some of the part that does change is nevertheless part of the permanent 1%.

and yes, they are a specific group of individuals and families.

[Curmudgeoness]

14. Look at the Forbes lists, and you see the same family names

year after year. The top 1% are not changing nearly as much as suggested.

And yes, I worked for an accounting firm, and did a tax return where they made $450,000 all in interest. Paid zero taxes. All of the money they earned was in munis and treasury bonds. All non-taxable. That was the year I left public accounting. It has stuck in my craw since then. However, most of the very rich do not invest it all in these sort of investments---not enough to gain, especially these days with low interest and low gains taxes.

[Curmudgeoness]

15. Look at the Forbes lists, and you see the same family names

year after year. The top 1% are not changing nearly as much as suggested.

And yes, I worked for an accounting firm, and did a tax return where they made $450,000 all in interest. Paid zero taxes. All of the money they earned was in munis and treasury bonds. All non-taxable. That was the year I left public accounting. It has stuck in my craw since then. However, most of the very rich do not invest it all in these sort of investments---not enough to gain, especially these days with low interest and low gains taxes.

[Sherman A1]

4. I don't begrudge anyone making a good income, but

I wonder, when the uber rich have all the money, then what... do they win?

Should the rest of us, just go off into the woods and die?

[xchrom]

9. Recommend

[inna]

10. r

Between 1979 and 2008, the top 5% of American families saw their real incomes increase 73%, according to Census data. Over the same period, the lowest-income fifth saw a decrease in real income of 4.1%.



http://extremeinequality.org/?page_id=8

[Hannah Bell]

13. k