The numbers are in: income gap has become a vast chasm since 1979
Mother Jones is running a series of infographics in its most recent issue that follow income trends in the U.S. Among other findings, they show that the top .01
Jul 31, 202025.4K Shares636.8K Views
Mother Jones is running a seriesof infographics in its most recent issue that follow income trends in the U.S. Among other findings, they show that the top .01 percent of Americans make 875 times what the bottom 90 percent make, and that the rich have gotten richer and the poor poorer to such a degree that if pre-1979 income trends had continued from 1979 to 2005, the top 10 percent of Americans would now be making between $4,912 and $597,241 less than they do now each year, and the remaining 90 percent would be making $3,733 to $10,100 more.
Some of the more shocking charts, after the jump.
When adjusted for inflation, the top 1 percent have seen runaway increases in average household income since 1979 and the top 20 percent have seen a steady rise; everyone else saw stagnation or decline:
Image courtesy of Mother Jones*
A Harvard study shows that Americans have a hopeful but highly inaccurate concept of wealth distribution in the U.S. The vast majority of respondents to the Harvard poll also said they wish it were even more equitable:
Image courtesy of Mother Jones
Tax rates for those making a $1 million in 2010 dollars are half what they were in 1945; meanwhile, corporate tax rates have plummeted such that corporate taxes went from covering nearly a third of federal tax revenue in the ’50s to under 10 percent today. Payroll taxes have skyrocketed to make up for corporate tax cuts:
Image courtesy of Mother Jones
Paula M. Graham
Reviewer
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