In one sense, it’s nothing new. The people with the highest incomes have more of the total. Math guarantees it.
Let’s review some charts from my friend Bruce Mehlman’s latest fascinating slide deck. It does a good job of explaining the drivers of this trend and its striking scale.If you take GDP as a gauge for national income, it’s been growing far faster than median family income—even adjusted for inflation. The wider that gap gets, the more people feel left behind.Here’s another one comparing stock market growth and family net worth.
It’s a marvelously steady progression up and to the right, temporarily marred by a recession here and there, but really quite awe-inspiring in its consistency. Yay, capitalism! As unhappy as all this is making people now, imagine how it will be when recession hits. And then couple that with an ever-increasing explosion of new technologies that reduce demand for many types of labor .Some degree of unhappiness and discontent is part of the human condition. It’s what drives us to improve.
When they perceive less ability to reach the next level on their own, they look to Washington for help.