Income Inequality Rose Most Under President Clinton
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http://news.investors.com/Article/590383/201111030805/Income-Inequality-Rose-Under-Clinton-Obama.htm
Income Inequality Rose Most Under President Clinton
In his weekend radio address, President Obama decried that "over the past three decades, the middle class has lost ground while the wealthiest few have become even wealthier." Although he was trying to leverage the Occupy Wall Street movement, the income gap has been a longstanding concern of his.
During the 2008 campaign, Obama said, "The project of the next president is figuring out how do you create bottom-up economic growth, as opposed to the trickle-down economic growth that George Bush has been so enamored with."
But it turns out that the rich actually got poorer under President Bush, and the income gap has been climbing under Obama.
There is no correlation between upper tax rate changes and income equality. Want to cut into the 1%? Write your Congressman to end technical advances, free trade, immigration, and women working...United States of Amish.
To the extent that income inequality is a problem, it's not clear what can be done to resolve it. Among the contributing factors:
Economic growth. Strong economic growth, rising stock prices and household income inequality tend to go hand in hand.
Technology. Tech advances have put a premium on skilled labor, according to a Congressional Budget Office report . Because the pool of skilled workers hasn't grown as much as demand, their wages have climbed faster.
Free trade and immigration. Cheap labor abroad and an influx in low-skilled immigrants can depress wages at the bottom, according to the CBO.
Women in the workforce. As the CBO put it, "an increase in the earnings of women could boost inequality by raising the income of couples relative to that of households headed by single people."
Free trade and immigration. Cheap labor abroad and an influx in low-skilled immigrants can depress wages at the bottom, according to the CBO.
There is no "can" to it, illegals do push down wages.
As for income inequality, that is not really the issue per se, the issue is growth in wages in income outside of the top 5%, meaning if they get wealthier, as long as the rest of the demogrpahics grow, it does not matter.
That has not been happening for over a decade.
The System is doing exactly what it was designed to do, concentrate wealth.