TIRED of INEQUALITY? Get used to it. Things look like they're only gonna get worse.

[Octafish]

40. Recovery for the Rich, Recession for the Rest

by Richard Eskow
Published on Thursday, September 12, 2013 by Campaign for America's Future Blog

Five years after the financial crisis, it’s become increasingly apparent that the government didn’t rescue “the economy.” It rescued the wealthy, while doing far too little for everyone else.

That didn’t happen by accident. Our government’s response was largely designed by – and for – the wealthiest among us, and it shows. Here’s one highlight from a new analysis: The highest-earning Americans saw their income rise by nearly one-third in a single year, while the needle barely moved for 99 percent of us.

This post-crisis inequality is amplifying an ongoing wealth grab that was already decimating middle-class and lower-income Americans.

Recovery for the Rich

New figures on wealth inequality from economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez show that the top 10 percent earned more than half of our nation’s income. That hasn’t happened since they started tracking these figures a century ago.

What about the bottom 99 percent? After being left out of the post-crisis boom, they finally saw an increase in their earnings last year – but it was only a paltry 1 percent.

CONTINUED...

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/09/12-7

I'm so old, I remember when Democrats actually used government to level the playing field instead of tilting things in favor of the wealthy.