So on NPR this morning Diane Rehm and a panel of bank-hating fake experts are talking about the recent study findings that the rich got way richer over the past 30 years.
This study found the top 1%'s income grew 275%, adjusted for inflation, from 1977 to 2007. The bottom 25%'s income grew 18%, adjusted for inflation, from 1977 to 2007.
Rehm at one point says, "But, 275% percent, Woo!" As in man, that's a lot, and it's UNFAIR!
Do you think Diane knows anything about what that number means? Because I don't, really, but I'd expect a disparity. For one thing, the top 1% get income (most of their income?) from wealth, not just their salary. Those big bank accounts accumulate more and more wealth over the years, and interest compounds. The bulk (virtually all?) of the bottom 25%'s income is wages from their job. Obviously that doesn't explain all of it, but that's part of it I'm sure.
Also, do you think Rehm exclaimed "Woo!" and just didn't mention that compared to the income growth of the top 1% in other countries, 275% is way high? Did she undertake that inquiry, and just fail to talk about all those boring statistics? Because I'd be curious to know those boring stats.
Or was Diane looking at 275% vs. 18% in a vacuum, and having no idea what it really means, she just knows it's not fair that CEOs and Wall Street bankers are getting obnoxiously rich while hard-working poor people are struggling to survive?
Maybe what she's really saying is this: "Comprehension of this income disparity study requires actual sophistication and math! I'm out! I just want some talking points! F Wall Street! Woo!"
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