I know that a bunch of folks are apopleptic(sp?) about Bush Jr.'s affect on the economy, how he's ruining lives, etc., but the latest treasury data shows just the opposite affect during the last 9 years (an implied nod to Clinton too). "The rich get richer and the poor get poorer" isn't born out by the tax data. It's more like "the poor get richer, the middle gets richer, some of the rich get richer, and the really rich get poorer", as shown in the chart below.
If you were to ask my opinion, I'd guess that it's because the rich make their money via investment, aka putting their dollars at risk, rather than labor. Anyway, here's the chart -- note that this's
median income, not
mean income, which is much better news than if it were the converse.
UPDATE: should have checked the data better, the originating article isn't substantiated.
4 comments:
There's lies, damned lies, and then there is statistics.
So what is Treasury counting as income - actual taxable income? In which case it makes great sense that the rich are making less on taxable income because all of their investment capital is tax free (no capital gains taxes).
Then there are the percentages. 90.5% of $10,000 is not the same as $10.0% of $150,000 (assuming that would be the highest bracket).
Where is the link to the numbers and do they say what they are counting as median income? I'd like to look because at first glance these numbers don't make a lot of sense at all.
Very good point: I looked back at the article and it's rather vague on that point. If it really is just "taxable" income and not total income, then these numbers are bupkis.
I thought I'd seen a link to the data, but there isn't one. Given said lack of link, I'm going to assume you're correct.
Add to that fact that inflation isn't the true value of the dollar (e.g. look at oil and exchange rates). Additionally, inflation doesn't cover real price increases because the Consumer Price Index isn't being accurately figured, IMHO.
Good to know there's more money going around, though it's not the full story.
I'd been wondering how much was wage inflation (the one inflation no-one seems to mind), but that doesn't handle 90% increases.
I'm totally w/ you on the inlation side of the fence, including a lot of the stock market's run-up not actually being good news....
Post a Comment