mikesc@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote...
> Jerry Kraus wrote:
> > On Apr 15, 10:27 am, Jerry Kraus <jkraus_1...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> >> 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.
> >
> > Actually, that's "gilded age", not "guilded age". Sorry about that.
>
> It could be "guilded age" too when you consider all the unions and
> professional organizations that extort money by virtue of their
> government enforced privileges.
You might want to check some current stats on unions before you start
with that line of argument. Unions have been declining in direct
pro****tion to the growth of the income share in the top 1%.
--
Taxes are not "punishment for success". Nor are they "theft". Taxes
are a royalty paid commensurate to the economic benefit obtained from
a shared socio-economic system.
"Those who gain the benefit should also bear the disadvantage."
- Common Law maxim
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