Monday, June 28, 2010

Some long term economic charts.

Chart 1 shows how top CEO pay has greatly outpaced the average US wage income.

Chart 2 shows periods of divergence between real income and the consumer price index.

Chart 3 shows long term trends of top decile income, relative to total US wealth. The top 1% has noticeably increased dramatically beginning from Ronald Reagan's first year in office.

Chart 4 shows the top US marginal tax rate along side the top decile share of US wealth and the US federal gross debt (includes social security debt) as a percentage of US GDP between 1970 and 2005 (logarithmic scale). Measured broadly, cutting the top tax rate has increased the federal debt to GDP ratio while positively adding to the share of the top decile income earners' share of total US wealth.

I don't know. When I look at the data, what I see is tax cuts adding to the wealth of top US earners, but that money is conspicuously missing from the supply-side economics argument that the backside to this is supposed to be increased tax receipts (from purported expanded spending and job creation.)

I just don't see it. Well, actually, I do see something worth noting. Those tax cuts that are supposed to be creating jobs, appears in fact, to have absolutely no effect on the average US wage.

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