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

[Octafish]

95. Orwell could never imagine the wealth involved.

The disparity in its distribution, yeah. Check out the facts courtsey Emmanuel Saez, UC Berkeley:

Striking it Richer:
The Evolution of Top Incomes in the United States
(Updated with 2012 preliminary estimates)

Emmanuel Saez, UC Berkeley•
September 3, 2013

What’s new for recent years?

2009-2012: Uneven recovery from the Great Recession

From 2009 to 2012, average real income per family grew modestly by
6.0% (Table 1). Most of the gains happened in the last year when average
incomes grew by 4.6% from 2011 to 2012.

However, the gains were very uneven. Top 1% incomes grew by
31.4% while bottom 99% incomes grew only by 0.4% from 2009 to 2012.
Hence, the top 1% captured 95% of the income gains in the first three years
of the recovery. From 2009 to 2010, top 1% grew fast and then stagnated
from 2010 to 2011. Bottom 99% stagnated both from 2009 to 2010 and from
2010 to 2011. In 2012, top 1% incomes increased sharply by 19.6% while
bottom 99% incomes grew only by 1.0%. In sum, top 1% incomes are close to
full recovery while bottom 99% incomes have hardly started to recover.

Note that 2012 statistics are based on preliminary projections and will
be updated in January 2014 when more complete statistics become available.
Note also that part of the surge of top 1% incomes in 2012 could be due to
income retiming to take advantage of the lower top tax rates in 2012 relative
to 2013 and after.

1
Retiming should be most prevalent for realized capital
gains as individuals have great flexibility in the timing of capital gains
realizations. However, series for income excluding realized capital gains also
show a very sharp increase (Figure 1), suggesting that retiming likely explains
only part of the surge in top 1% incomes in 2012. Retiming of income should
produce a dip in top reported incomes in 2013. Hence, statistics for 2013 will

show how important retiming was in the surge in top incomes from 2011 to
2012.

Overall, these results suggest that the Great Recession has only
depressed top income shares temporarily and will not undo any of the
dramatic increase in top income shares that has taken place since the 1970s.
Indeed, the top decile income share in 2012 is equal to 50.4%, the highest
ever since 1917 when the series start (Figure 1).

Looking further ahead, based on the US historical record, falls in
income concentration due to economic downturns are temporary unless
drastic regulation and tax policy changes are implemented and prevent
income concentration from bouncing back. Such policy changes took place
after the Great Depression during the New Deal and permanently reduced
income concentration until the 1970s (Figures 2, 3). In contrast, recent
downturns, such as the 2001 recession, lead to only very temporary drops in
income concentration (Figures 2, 3).

The policy changes that took place coming out of the Great Recession
(financial regulation and top tax rate increase in 2013) are not negligible but
they are modest relative to the policy changes that took place coming out of
the Great Depression. Therefore, it seems unlikely that US income
concentration will fall much in the coming years.

PDF of complete report: http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~saez/saez-UStopincomes-2012.pdf

I know it's only been five years, but when are we gonna get that New New Deal I heard about back in '08?