The New York Times’ current series of articles on class and wealth in the United States highlights some thought-provoking new trends in wealth.  In particular, this Sunday’s “Richest are Leaving Even the Rich Behind” notes the following trends:

—The portion of the nation’s income earned by taxpayers in the top 0.1 percent has doubled since the 1970s, to a level not seen since the 1920s.

—Taxpayers within the $100,000 to $200,000 tax bracket lost a greater portion of their income to taxes than those making $10 million or more.

The rich are getting richer and leaving the rest of us far behind. Our parents grew up in a world where millionaires were a rarity and no one thought bringing a $700 piece of electronic equiptment to school was a good idea. (See May 29th’s “Where the Jones Wear Jeans”.)

We knew the gap between rich and poor in America was growing wider, but not the degree to which it had exploded. And, while the consumer market has expanded rapidly to accommodate the growing millionaire class’s whims and tastes, our society has not visibly benefited in other ways.  Charitable giving has increased the last 39 out of 40 years, and approximately 90 percent of Americans give money to charity. The examples of Bill Gates and George Soros may serve as inspiration to the men and women who can afford to buy $2.5 million homes in Nantucket, merely to preserve the view and their privacy. But ultimately, the hyper-rich’s charitable giving does not balance out the tax burden born by the rest of the American population. Their inflated income is shadowed by the memory of the 1920s crash and the subsequent Great Depression that equalized much of the nation in abject poverty.

llouison