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| Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, and JP Morgan Chase CEO James Dimon, center, leave the White House, 03/28/09. (photo: Getty Images) |
25 October 11
As intense protests spawned by Occupy Wall Street continue to grow, it is worth asking: Why now? The answer is not obvious. After all, severe income and wealth inequality have long plagued the United States. In fact, it could reasonably be claimed that this form of inequality is part of the design of the American founding - indeed, an integral part of it.
Income inequality has worsened over the past several
years and is at its highest level since the Great Depression. This is
not, however, a new trend. Income inequality has been growing at rapid
rates for three decades. As journalist Tim Noah described the process:
"During the late 1980s and the late 1990s, the United
States experienced two unprecedentedly long periods of sustained
economic growth - the ‘seven fat years' and the ‘long boom.' Yet from
1980 to 2005, more than 80% of total increase in Americans'
income went to the top 1%. Economic growth was more sluggish in the
aughts, but the decade saw productivity increase by about 20%. Yet
virtually none of the increase translated into wage growth at middle and
lower incomes, an outcome that left many economists scratching their
heads."
The 2008 financial crisis exacerbated the trend, but not radically: the top 1% of earners in America have been feeding ever more greedily at the trough for decades. READ MORE
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