Wealth and Economics

• "... between 1979 and 2005 the real income of the median household rose only 13 percent, but the income of the richest 0.1% of Americans rose 296 percent ..." (NYTimes)
• "... the effect of presidential partisanship on income inequality turns out to have been remarkably consistent since the end of World War II. The 80/20 income ratio increased under each of the six Republican presidents in this period.... In contrast, four of the five Democratic presidents—all except Jimmy Carter—presided over declines in income inequality. If this is a coincidence, it is a very powerful one." (Larry M. Bartels, Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age, quoted in NYRB)
• "Real income for lower-income people in those years grew 5.7 percent under Democratic presidents and shrank 1.3 percent under Republican ones." (NYRB)
• The average unionized blue-collar worker made $22.74 an hour in 2003, or about $45,000. (NYRB)