Don't be silly. Unless you've got a real big yacht, this tide isn't coming in for you.
Which reminds me of a boardroom joke. Reagan promised a rising tide would lift all boats. He meant "the sea level". As in CEO, CFO, COO... yrs, andreas www.andreas.com----- Original Message ----- From: "John McCreery" <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "Anthro-L" <ANTHRO-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2007 6:43 AM Subject: [lit-ideas] Economic Growth That Floats All Boats? Don't be silly. Unless you've got a real big yacht, this tide isn't coming in for you.
From Brad Delong via Kevin Drum,
Historically speaking, then, here's what we've got: * Top 10%: income share stagnant since 1983. * Top 5%: Income share stagnant since 1995. * Top 1%: Still rocking and rolling! This is all pretty rarefied atmosphere, of course. Here's Saez: 2005 shows a very large increase in income concentration: the top 1% gains 14% in real terms from 2004 while the bottom 99% gains less than 1%….The striking thing about 2003-2005 is the huge increase at the top with quasi-stagnation below the top 1%. In the late Clinton years, the top gained enormously but at least the bottom was also making progress. Median wages have been stagnant since the mid-70s. Today, the wages of everyone below the top 1% are stagnant. As Andrew Tobias likes to say, it's a grand time to be rich and powerful in America. -- John McCreery The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN Tel. +81-45-314-9324 http://www.wordworks.jp/ ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html