Top 1% Got 93% of Income Growth as Rich-Poor Gap Widened

[marmar]

(Bloomberg) Since 2009, Anita Reyes’ wages have been as frozen as Lake Minnetonka in January.

While the U.S. economy was recovering from the Great Recession, Reyes, 52, a casino dealer from Minneapolis, was dining on $1.67 cans of soup and searching for a way to keep her house, which was foreclosed on last October.

“I went backwards,” Reyes said. “Two years ago, three years ago, I didn’t know I’d be looking at being homeless.”

Stephen Hemsley’s salary has been frozen too. His income hasn’t. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-02/top-1-got-93-of-income-growth-as-rich-poor-gap-widened.html

[xchrom]

1. Du rec. Nt

[marions ghost]

2. Good article

Excerpt:

"So far, the boat has been leaving some in its wake. Fewer Americans own individual stocks than before the recession began, so many have missed the chance for income from the market’s rebound. About 11.7 percent of middle-income families owned stock in 2010, down from 14 percent in 2007, according to the Federal Reserve. Almost half of the wealthiest 10 percent of American families owned stock in 2007 and 2010, the Fed says.

At the same time, at least 176 companies lit a “sleeping time bomb” of stock-market wealth in 2009 by awarding “mega” grants of stock options to executives, said Paul Hodgson, chief research analyst at GMI Ratings, a New York corporate governance firm. A mega-grant confers 500,000 shares or more, according to GMI’s reports...."

They are grabbing it ALL, y'all...

[raouldukelives]

3. I am heartened to read so few middle class Americans are profiting from Wall St.

Talk about a boat leaving a wake. We'll all be dealing with the effects of losing the polar ice cap while they continue to derive an income not only causing that decline but funding the deniers as well. Must make them feel really special to live in luxury at the expense of every living creature on the face of the earth, today and tomorrow.

[Octafish]

5. It makes me happy to know someone will survive.

While I can't afford it, humanity may go on.

(for the irony deprived)

Is Survival Only for the Rich?

[marions ghost]

8. "living in luxury at the expense of every living creature on earth" --- so true

that is really the Big Picture.

Oh yes they DO feel special AND entitled to every cent. And to the sense of power and control.

[LongTomH]

4. This is what people are protesting against: In Europe and here!

[DebJ]

6. Another quote:

"The income gap between rural households in China under a commonly used gauge known as the Gini coefficient reached 0.3949 last year, nearing a “danger level” of 0.40 set by the United Nations for potential social unrest, according to a study released in August by the state-backed Center for Chinese Rural Studies at Central China Normal University. The figure was 0.47 in the U.S. last year, the highest since at least 1967, the Census bureau estimated. "

[LiberalArkie]

7. I liked

The income gap between rural households in China under a commonly used gauge known as the Gini coefficient reached 0.3949 last year, nearing a “danger level” of 0.40 set by the United Nations for potential social unrest, according to a study released in August by the state-backed Center for Chinese Rural Studies at Central China Normal University. The figure was 0.47 in the U.S. last year, the highest since at least 1967, the Census bureau estimated.