In 1974, Congress re-wrote the tax code, and baked in Trickle Down Economics, and the permanent financial landscape improved greatly for the wealthy. The rest of us were dealing with high inflation (Remember Ford’s WIN buttons - Whip Inflation Now?), gas lines caused by the OPEC oil embargo, interest rates over 20%, etc., and didn’t recognize what was happening.
So when Reagan came along and pushed Trickle Down Economics, it was already in place, and ramping up, he was just introducing it, and selling it to the American people, and it became standard dogma for a long time.
The result has been a decades long re-distribution of wealth to the upper incomes, at the direct detriment of the working and middle-class.
That’s why it appears to start before Reagan - because it did.
Rate of change in 2021 (last data point on this graph) is nearly vertical. Five years of that would put a few zeros at the end of that figure, which is exactly what happened.
WTF happened in 1971‽
In 1974, Congress re-wrote the tax code, and baked in Trickle Down Economics, and the permanent financial landscape improved greatly for the wealthy. The rest of us were dealing with high inflation (Remember Ford’s WIN buttons - Whip Inflation Now?), gas lines caused by the OPEC oil embargo, interest rates over 20%, etc., and didn’t recognize what was happening.
So when Reagan came along and pushed Trickle Down Economics, it was already in place, and ramping up, he was just introducing it, and selling it to the American people, and it became standard dogma for a long time.
The result has been a decades long re-distribution of wealth to the upper incomes, at the direct detriment of the working and middle-class.
That’s why it appears to start before Reagan - because it did.
New York Mag: http://nymag.com/intelligencer/amp/2020/09/rand-study-how-high-is-inequality-us.html
Fast Money: https://www.fastcompany.com/90550015/we-were-shocked-rand-study-uncovers-massive-income-shift-to-the-top-1
That can’t be accurate. The reality is way worse. The top 1% wouldn’t even be visible on the chart at that scale. What am I missing?
Rate of change in 2021 (last data point on this graph) is nearly vertical. Five years of that would put a few zeros at the end of that figure, which is exactly what happened.
Even before 2021, the disparity was already so great it wouldn’t have fit.