http://emlab.berkeley.edu/users/saez/berkeleysympo2.pdf
"Figure 2, Panel A plots the top 1% income share in France and the
United States since 1913.20 The patterns are strikingly parallel from
the beginning of the century up to the 1970s. The shares were very
high, around 18-20% in both countries, at the eve of the first World
War.21 The top 1% share is highest in the United States in 1929, at
the onset of the Great Depression. The top 1% income share falls in
both countries during the Great Depression, and especially during
World War II. The fall during World War II is more pronounced in
France, which suffered much more directly from the shock of the war
than the United States.By the end of World War II, top 1% income
shares are around 11% in the United States and 9% in France, about
only 50% of their pre-World War I level. Strikingly, in the prosperous
years and decades following World War II, top income shares do not
come back to their high levels of the pre-war period, but remain
relatively stable in France or decrease further (and slowly) in the
United States. In the 1970s, the top 1% income share is around 8% in
both countries. The pattern of top income shares in the two countries
displays a striking contrast over the last 25 years. While the top 1%
income share in France has remained stable around 8% up to year 1998,
the top 1% income share has increased dramatically and is around 17%
in 2000, almost as high as in 1913."
We have entered a new "guilded age" in the U.S. with huge income
disparities. As a direct consequence, we are entering a new
Depression.
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