SOCIAL INEQUALITY IN AMERICA: Incomes of Top One Percent in US Skyrocket...
by Kate Randall
March 13, 2012
World Socialist Web Site

Income for the top 1 percent of US households rose dramatically in 2010, the first full year following the official end of the recession, according to recently released data. By contrast, the average income of the bottom 90 percent of households remained at its lowest level since 1983.

A March 7 report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), based on data compiled by University of California Berkeley economist Emmanuel Saez and his colleague Thomas Piketty, shows that in the wake of the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression the share of total income going to the top 1 percent of US households rose to 19.8 percent in 2010. While slightly lower than the peaks of 2000 and 2007, this percentage is among the highest since the 1920s.

The Piketty-Saez analysis is based on 2009 and 2010 Internal Revenue Service data. Significantly, it provides detailed information extending back to 1913. Although this IRS data does include information for those not filing taxes, and does not account for household size, the CBPP expects Congressional Budget Office data will track similar income trends.

Over the past decade, income concentration has reached levels not seen in over 80 years. According to the Piketty-Saez analysis updated and published in a paper titled “Striking it Richer,” from 2002 to 2007, two-thirds of US total income gains (adjusted for inflation and population growth) went to the top 1 percent of US households. In 2007, the top 1 percent held a larger share of income than at any time since 1928.

From 2002 to 2007, the real, inflation-adjusted income of the top 1 percent of households saw their income rise more than ten times faster than the income of the bottom 90 percent. This dramatic rise is mainly due to the income of the top 0.01 percent.

CONTINUE: [link to globalresearch.ca]

NB: The same happens in the Netherlands - Average income of the '1%' this year has risen with 32 percent...