# How do we actually address rampant income inequality? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 17, 2016, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-actually-address-rampant-income-inequality/746303 "2016-02-17T00:00:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 107
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2016, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-actually-address-rampant-income-inequality/746303/107 "2016-02-18T03:27:19Z")
> [@Salvor](#): > > Now in her example, the poor were still better off, just not as much better off compared to wealthier people. That is the kind of inequality I find more tolerable. > > What we are experiencing today is different though, the poor are falling further behind in purchasing power, and the middle class is sort of running in place if not losing ground. The poor are still better off. As I posted recently in a near-duplicate thread: > [@IS Wall Street the main cause of U.S. income/wealth inequality?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-wall-street-the-main-cause-of-u-s-income-wealth-inequality/745926/102): > > CBO ([PDF](https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/112th-congress-2011-2012/reports/10-25-HouseholdIncome_0.pdf)) already added most of it up: > > Real median after-tax household income increased by 35% 1979-2007. It’s even up for the lowest income quintile, although only a bit. I spent most of the 200’s in the lowest income quintile, and there’s no way I would have traded that for the lowest income quintile in the 70s or 80s, partially due to these increases, but more so due to some of the other quality-of-life changes others have mentioned. So the rest of us can do well even if the rich are getting ludicrously richer. There is no stagnation or decoupling from productivity. That doesn’t mean it’s all puppies and sunshine. Possible dangers include the feedback loops that **septimus** mentions. I’ll see if I have time to grab some quotes from the book he mentions, which I read on his recommendation. It’s good. Imperfect, but what isn’t? Note that the video you link to shows charts for wealth inequality, not income inequality. They’re linked, but not the same thing. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-we-actually-address-rampant-income-inequality/746303)._