Economic Cronyism

01/10/06 20:50

Published on Tuesday, January 10, 2006 by the Daytona Beach News-Journal (Florida) 

What Numbers Aren't Saying About the Economy Most Live In

by Pierre Tristam 

. . . From 1947 to 1979, family income for the poorest 20 percent of the population grew by 120 percent, and by comparable rates for the next two-fifths of the nation's households. Income for the top fifth grew by 94 percent. Since 1979, household income for the poorest 20 percent has risen 0.7 percent. Total. It has risen between 7 percent and 8 percent, total, for the next two-fifths of the country's households, or about 0.3 percent per year. For the richest 10 percent, household income grew 61.2 percent during the same 25 years. And for the richest 1 percent, it grew a staggering 111 percent. Wealth had been becoming a more equal opportunity. It's now a privilege again. . . . Read more