Are we living in a new "Gilded Age" of income inequality?

Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
1

Cecil’s column on Income Inequality only seemed to look at a small part of the picture of income inequality.

He examined the income of the top 0.1 percent, which seems a rather arbitrary point to do an analysis on income inequality. Where was the comparison of that to the wealth of the bottom 20 percent? Why no mention of the Gini Coefficient, the number economists use to measure income inequality (with 0 being everyone makes the same amount, 1 meaning one person has all the money)?

It seems like something is missing here.

2

Yeah, I think the Gilded post was somewhat anemic. How you frame these things is always an issue. Also, I believe wealth is more significant than income.
I usually refer to Wealth and Democracy by Kevin Philips, but it isn’t updated enough for recent stats. However, the book is still useful. I think the “bubble” that we experienced during the late 90s was reminiscent of the “Gilded Age.” It would be interesting if we had statistics for those years of wild speculation that overvalued stocks for 1996-2001. I don’t think comparasions of tycoons settles the issue. The Sherman Anti-Trust act could account for the differences in wealth relative to the past, but that doesn’t establish that modern firms are any less powerful for having less of the GDP. Shouldn’t the comparasions be drawn along the distribution of wealth throughout the society? Two men aren’t representative of entire societies or eras. Besides, control is more about collusion and diversified companies that can control wide aspects of economy, rather than remain heavily concentrated in one sector. The Gilded Age was more than true monopolists. It was a cultural lifestyle that was predicated on hedonism, copious consumption, and greed. I believe the golden parachutes, investor speculation, and start-ups of the 90s represent this.

3

The golden WHAT??? Oops—I was thinking of something else. Sorry.
:smack:

4

I’ve read recently that the gap is widening, and that indeed the super-rich are pulling away from the merely very rich (for example, this article cites how the sales of private jumbojets are increasing, versus smaller private jets, who’s sales are stagnant: http://www.cnbc.com/id/102192694#.)

If the master could enlighten us on how things have progressed since he last wrote on the subject, in 2003, I’m sure it would be interesting (though probably depressing)…

5

Well, Robert Reich has been flogging that issue, and he’s probably a better advocate for it than an eccentric and probably fictitious writer for a free paper in Chicago.

Though I would welcome an update from Cece and the SDSAB.