New report debunks narrative on income inequality

laffer center ^ | 7-13-12 | Brian Domitrovic

[TurboZamboni]

that the gap is growing between America’s richest and poorest are built on a foundation of flawed research, according to a report published today by the Laffer Center for Supply-Side Economics.

“The principal research supporting claims of dramatic income inequality in America is unsound and misguided,” said Laffer Center Senior Fellow Brian Domitrovic, Ph.D. “This focus on ‘the 1 percent’ takes no account of any absolute increase or decrease in living standards on the part of the lower classes. Studies have shown that in every recent interval of American history, and certainly from 1980 to the present, living standards and real income have risen for virtually everyone.”

The Laffer Center report, “The Left’s Dubious History of Income Inequality,” challenges the income inequality research by French economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez that was cited by President Barack Obama in the narrative supporting his first budget proposal. The concepts developed by Piketty and Saez later provided the Occupy Wall Street slogan, “We are the 99 percent.”

[TurboZamboni]

The Left’s Dubious History of Income Inequality

http://www.laffercenter.com/2012/07/lefts-dubious-history-income-inequality/

[ClearCase_guy]

NPR interviewed Laffer briefly today. It was a good example of an interviwer challenging the expert on every single point. No ideas were accepted at face value. Everything had to be justified. It was all "Mr. Laffer, do you really believe ..." and "So, you're actually saying that ..."

Contrast that with an interview with someone like Ralph Nader which would be fawning and supportive -- "Mr. Nader, you've fought the good fight for so long, how do you maintain such optimism?" or "Can you explain the benefits of consumer protection?"

[r-q-tek86]

bflr

[SMARTY]

NPR people have a pathological aversion to cold hard facts.

[FreedomPoster]

NPR people have The Left has a pathological aversion to cold hard facts.

There, fixed it.

[Right Brother]

It’s interesting that the ‘poor’ have more than the middle class did in the 50’s and 60’s. I remember being the envy of the neighborhood kids because we had a ‘color’ TV in 1964. The ‘poor’ now have 72” flat screens. They also have computers, MP3 players,video game systems, cell phones and best of all, government subsidies.

[Wonder Warthog]

NPR Media people have a pathological aversion to cold hard facts.

More accurate.