From Gotham Gazette:In New York City in 1980, the share of all incomes going to the top 1 percent was 12 percent -- more or less in line with the rest of the U.S. But by 1990 the top 1 percent's share in New York City had risen to almost 20 percent, and after a period of extreme concentration in the late 1990s reached nearly 35 percent in 2000. The 2001-2003 recession briefly pushed the top share down, but then it gained at its fastest pace over the past 30 years, climbing to 44 percent in 2007, almost double the historically high national level of 23.5 percent.
New York State is the most polarized among the 50 states, and New York City is the most polarized among the 25 largest cities in the United States.
Today, most experts expect the pace of the nascent recovery from the Great Recession of 2008-09 to remain subdued in large part because of high household debt burdens, stagnant or declining wages, and a bleak job outlook. The recession was triggered by the bursting of the housing bubble and a speculative, excess-prone financial system, but it occurred in an economy with an increasingly shaky foundation characterized by weak job growth, continued export of middle-income jobs and wage growth that failed to keep pace with inflation and the growth in the productivity of labor.
This shaky foundation has a lot to do with the post-1980 hyper-concentration of income. The expansion from 2004 to 2007 was the first in which family incomes and median wages adjusted for inflation did not rise over the cycle to reach the peak of the previous business cycle. Despite economic growth, many Americans never saw their income return to the levels they had reached in 2000. Faced with this, families turned to debt, using credit cards and home equity borrowing to sustain their living standards. The crash of the financial and housing bubbles destroyed trillions of dollars in retirement and college savings that had been accumulated by middle- and low-income Americans, and decimated the value of their homes.
Rebuilding that wealth and economic security and restoring a sense of optimism for the next generation will be doubly difficult given the current polarized system of economic rewards and the bleak outlook for job and economic growth. The broadly shared prosperity that prevailed in the three decades after World War II is a distant memory. Are we destined to grow further apart?
16 comments:
Gee, a man whose entire billion-dollar fortune stemmed from Wall Street traders, favors...Wall Street traders.
Who could have predicted this?
Z______ Occupied city.
"Widest gap ever"
And it will continue to widen. If everyone's income grows at a constant rate, it's a mathematical certainty.
But what is missing is the fact that people can go between poor and rich, or rich and poor.
These type of statistics only serve to increase class resentment.
No, what serves to increase class resentment is the indifference and cruelty of the upper classes.
Remember the story of Dives and Lazarus.
"No, what serves to increase class resentment is the indifference and cruelty of the upper classes."
No, my friend. What serves to increase resentment is the constantly put upon MIDDLE CLASS - in other words - the back bone to American society. I can just as easily say, "Fuck the poor" as I can say, "Fuck the Rich" because neither understands my plight. So take your preconceived liberal notions that government needs to step in and right the wrongs and re-distribute the wealth and replace it with a little bit of pragmatism and practicality, please!
Eat the rich.
There are 20 year olds living in their own apartments on Park Avenue.
Paid for by their greedy parents that raped our 401k's, pensions and job security.
Let them rot in hell.
Don't worry, they have a secret plan to eliminate the middle class. Welcome to poverty my friend. And if you don't believe it, you haven't been paying attention.
"Widest gap ever"
Are you talking about the one in between my ears...............or legs?
Sorry babe, this is becoming a real problem. And the middle class person who says "fuck the poor" doesn't realize he is about to become one.
Or do you think 20 years of exporting our jobs hasn't created plenty of poor people already?
If you're not rich you are one of the poor working class, If you don't get it, you're a moron and deserve to be destroyed by the landed gentry.
How much of this is due to the middle and working class leaving the city? Wasn't it Bloomberg's plan all along to remake NYC into an elite luxury city?
Anon No. 2 --
As noted previously, the only Z_________ occupied thing in this city is you.
And it will continue to widen. If everyone's income grows at a constant rate, it's a mathematical certainty.
Wow! Someone with intelligence on this blog! (I get lonely sometimes!)
Coincidentally, I was reading something about the Pareto Principle the other day, which is relevant here.
But what is missing is the fact that people can go between poor and rich, or rich and poor.
Again, I'm impressed!
Do you read Thomas Sowell by chance?
These type of statistics only serve to increase class resentment.
Three in a row! If we were bowling right now, you'd get a turkey!
ew-3 is the commenter of the week!
BRAVO!!
"There are 20 year olds living in their own apartments on Park Avenue.
Paid for by their greedy parents that raped our 401k's, pensions and job security.
Let them rot in hell."
And don't forget the multiple generations of welfare receivers that are raping the system, who choose to ingore the vast amount of taxpayer provided programs and education and would rather sit around and bemoan their miserable lives than get up and do something about it.
$3.50 to $4.00 for a gallon of gas in nyc. while the other countries like china have oil rigs operating in the gulf of mexico. our community organizer,with no U.S.birth certificate produced yet by the governor of hawaii, closes down the oil rigs that were pumping oil/gas to the american motorists.
remember in november 2012.....
if we took sarah palen's advice and drill in alaska,the cost of a gallon of home heating oil and gasoline might be lower.
then we would all be a little wealthier and owe less to money to the saudi's.
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