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For 99% of Americans, the Obama recovery has been no recovery at all
American.com ^ | 3/5/12 | James Pethokoukis

Posted on 03/05/2012 1:18:06 PM PST by Nachum

Liberal economist Emmanuel Saez has updated his much-referenced income inequality research. Here’s how the recovery is going after the Great Recession:

In 2010, average real income per family grew by 2.3%, but the gains were very uneven. Top 1% incomes grew by 11.6% while bottom 99% incomes grew only by 0.2%. Hence, the top 1% captured 93% of the income gains in the first year of recovery. Such an uneven recovery can help explain the recent public demonstrations against inequality. It is likely that this uneven recovery has continued in 2011 as the stock market has continued to recover.

National Accounts statistics show that corporate profits and dividends distributed have grown strongly in 2011 while wage and salary accruals have only grown only modestly. Unemployment and non-employment have remained high in 2011.

This suggests that the Great Recession will only depress 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, excluding realized capital gains, the top decile share in 2010 is equal to 46.3%, higher than in 2007.

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.

1. So this isn’t exactly an endorsement of the Obama recovery is it? I mean, for 99% of Americans there has been no recovery, according to Saez. In other news, Wall Street paid its employees more than $40 billion in bonuses the past two years.

(Excerpt) Read more at blog.american.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: americans; obama; recovery
Time to call it what it is- the Obama depression
1 posted on 03/05/2012 1:18:13 PM PST by Nachum
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To: Nachum

I am the 99% LOL!


2 posted on 03/05/2012 1:18:59 PM PST by sauropod (You can elect your very own tyranny - Marc Levin)
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To: Jet Jaguar; NorwegianViking; ExTexasRedhead; HollyB; FromLori; EricTheRed_VocalMinority; ...

The list, Ping

Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list

http://www.nachumlist.com/


3 posted on 03/05/2012 1:19:15 PM PST by Nachum (The complete Obama list at www.nachumlist.com)
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To: Nachum

This is the major story of the Obama administration...and it’s one the media will not cover.


4 posted on 03/05/2012 1:19:56 PM PST by kjo (+)
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To: Nachum

but, hey, at least some poor, struggling students at an elite college will have their free birth control...


5 posted on 03/05/2012 1:23:36 PM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: sauropod

That’s what I don’t understand. Is this guy saying that OWS/”We are the 99%!” people are actually *correct*? Am I supposed to get mad at the people who HAVE managed to make this economy work for them? Because most of THEM are not Democrats.

What am I, supposed to become a Democrat?


6 posted on 03/05/2012 1:29:08 PM PST by worst-case scenario (Striving to reach the light)
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To: Nachum

And 99% of Americans should let the Hair Ball-in-Chief know that next November!


7 posted on 03/05/2012 1:32:05 PM PST by AngelesCrestHighway
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To: Nachum
I don't buy the premise that an equal distribution of income is a desirable goal in the first place. Sorry folks, but most people at the bottom of the income distribution are there of their own doing and I have a hard time feeling sorry for them. Until they see that education and a little hard work do pay off they will continue to shore up the bottom. While a rising tide does raise all boats, I see no reason why all those boats have to be the same size. Those who work hard should have a bigger boat. Those who don't should be happy they're still afloat, in good measure to those in the bigger boats who pay the taxes to keep their dingies from sinking.
8 posted on 03/05/2012 1:32:06 PM PST by econjack
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To: econjack
I don't buy the premise that an equal distribution of income is a desirable goal in the first place. Sorry folks, but most people at the bottom of the income distribution are there of their own doing and I have a hard time feeling sorry for them.
Thomas Sowell has pointed out that a very substantial part of the disparity between the top and bottom income quintiles disappears if you control for age. IOW, the bottom income quintile is loaded with young people just starting out. He calls the “liberal” assumption that all low-income people are stuck in poverty for a lifetime the “wino veto” - suggesting that the few people who remain in the bottom quintile for most of their lives are, or might as well be, “winos.”

9 posted on 03/05/2012 2:07:55 PM PST by conservatism_IS_compassion (DRAFT PALIN)
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To: Nachum

Agreed, my standard of living has gone down from 2008. The only bright spot, I did get a newer vehicle but my elderly father had to give me a hand. B-P It’s been nip and tuck.


10 posted on 03/05/2012 6:40:52 PM PST by Nowhere Man (Send Obama back to the ghetto, November 6th.)
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