TIL: 0% economic gains since 1984
Oct. 19th, 2017 02:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
timeletsToday I learned, that since 1984 the bottom 50% of Americans gained 0% of national income in real terms. On average the economy grew 1.4% per year. The top 1% of Americans gained more than 3% per year. http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2017/09/gabriel_zucman.html
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On the one hand, I understand and even teach that a very small proportion of the population (less than 1%) makes a real difference in the modern world. On the other hand, it feels unfair that economic inequality in the US is growing so rapidly and it's practically impossible to move from the bottom 50% to the top 10%. This is a large part of today's conflict in the society: a lot of people don't see any bright future for their children. The best they can hope for is stagnation. BTW, Bannon is one of the few conservatives who understands the situation. Even he realizes that the current tax reform proposal is not going to help his tribe.
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On the one hand, I understand and even teach that a very small proportion of the population (less than 1%) makes a real difference in the modern world. On the other hand, it feels unfair that economic inequality in the US is growing so rapidly and it's practically impossible to move from the bottom 50% to the top 10%. This is a large part of today's conflict in the society: a lot of people don't see any bright future for their children. The best they can hope for is stagnation. BTW, Bannon is one of the few conservatives who understands the situation. Even he realizes that the current tax reform proposal is not going to help his tribe.
