Sunday, December 12, 2010

Percentage of income going to the top 1% has nearly tripled since the 1970's

On Nov. 30, 2010, Sen. Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont, made a Senate floor speech about the gap between rich and poor in America.  Here's a portion of that speech:


"Mr. President, in the year 2007, the top 1 percent of all income earners in the United States made 23.5 percent of all income," Sanders said.
"The top 1 percent earned 23.5 percent of all income--more than the entire bottom 50 percent. That is apparently not enough. The percentage of income going to the top 1 percent has nearly tripled since the 1970s. In the mid-1970s, the top 1 percent earned about 8 percent of all income. In the 1980s, that figure jumped to 14 percent. In the late 1990s, that 1 percent earned about 19 percent."

And the facts seem to be true!  Here's part of the explanation from politifact.com:

To keep matters simple, we'll stick to checking Sanders' claim that "the top 1 percent of all income earners in the United States made 23.5 percent of all income," which is "more than the entire bottom 50 percent."
When we asked Sanders' office for a source, they pointed us to a study dated Aug. 5, 2009 by University of California (Berkeley) economist Emmanuel Saez, "Striking it Richer: The Evolution of Top Incomes in the United States (update with 2007 estimates)." We looked at the paper and found this line: The top 1 percent "has gone through enormous fluctuations along the course of the twentieth century, from about 18 percent (of income) before WWI, to a peak to almost 24 percent in the late 1920s, to only about 9 percent during the 1960s-1970s, and back to almost 23.5 percent by 2007." An accompanying chart confirmed the 23.5 percent figure for 2007.

You can read the rest at: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/dec/10/bernie-s/bernie-sanders-viral-speech-says-top-1-percent-ear/

Sounds like those upper 1% really need a tax break!

Tracy

Coffee, Tea or Beer? Parties of all flavors

One of the values Americans seem to hold dear is the right to choose.
So I was delighted to hear about some new choices in political parties.

If you're fed up with Republicans, Democrats and the Tea Party,
take heart!  There is now a Coffee Party and Beer Party.

What's next?  I'm sure big business will want in.  How about the Pepsi Party?