Monday, September 05, 2011

A few moved up, Many moved down

You really should look at these graphs that accompanied an article by Robert Reich in yesterday's NY Times. Reich argues that a major part of our financial problems is due to the decline of the middle class and the rise of the ultra-wealthy. I couldn't figure out how to copy the graphs so that they would be readable. Let me summarize them. Reich divides the years since WWII into two time periods: the Great Prosperity (1947-1979) and the Great Regression (1980-now). 
  • In the Great Prosperity average pay for production and non-supervisory workers doubled and productivity increased by 119%. In the Great Recession pay has increased by 8% and productivity by 80%.
  • In the Great Prosperity the gain in income for those at the top was less on a percentage basis than those beneath the. In the Great Recession that was reversed, the top people had a much larger income gain than all beneath them.
  • The percent of debt to household income went from 26% in 1947 to 120% today.
The charts are based on government data.

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