THE REAL CLASS WARFARE!

Has There Been a Change in America’s Distribution of Income in Recent Decades?

Between 1979 and 2007 average US household income — adjusted for inflation — grew by 62%. But that growth was unequally distributed across the population. Income for families at the upper end of the income scale rose much more rapidly than income for households in the middle and at the lower end of the scale.

The CBO prepared a study at the request of the Chairman and former Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Finance that examines the trends in the distribution of household income between 1979 and 2007.

The results of the study are clear: After-Tax Income from 1979 to 2007 Grew More for the Highest-Income Households.

•For the 1% of the population with the highest income, average real after-tax household income grew by 275% (see chart).
•For others in the 20% of the population with the highest income, average real after-tax household income grew by 65%.
•For the 60% of the population in the middle of the income scale, the growth in average real after-tax household income was just under 40%.
•For the 20% of the population with the lowest income, the growth in average real after-tax household income was about 18%.

THE UPPER 1% SAW THEIR INCOME GROW AT THE RATE OF 275%; WHILE THE LOWER 20% SAW INCOME GROWTH AT THE RATE OF 18%.

The GOP coined the phrase “Class Warfare” to claim that even questioning cutting taxes for the wealthy was an attack on the “successful” and as such is a declaration of “war” on the upper class. But the numbers don’t lie — the REAL “Class Warfare” that has been waged over recent decades is the one that is being waged BY the upper class ON the rest of us … the 99%!

CLN has been blogging about Income Inequality in America since June 15, 2010. You can research these articles by entering the term Income Inequality in the search bar.