Saez’s report, entitled “Striking it Richer: The Evolution of Top Incomes in the United States,” shows that the real increase in the concentration of wealth has taken place at the pinnacle of the social pyramid—the top 1 percent, with annual incomes of $400,000 and above.
The figures released by the IRS are from 2007. They indicate that for most of the top 10 percent (families with incomes of $110,000 or more), there was little change in terms of income growth and share, but the top 1 percent increased their share of the national income to 23.5 percent, compared with 22.8 percent in 2006.
It's all by design, put into place by people who believe this is the way things "should" be.
The report is here:
The labor market has been creating much more inequality over the
last thirty years, with the very top earners capturing a large fraction of
macroeconomic productivity gains. A number of factors may help explain this
increase in inequality, not only underlying technological changes but also the
retreat of institutions developed during the New Deal and World War II - such
as progressive tax policies, powerful unions, corporate provision of health and
retirement benefits, and changing social norms regarding pay inequality. We
need to decide as a society whether this increase in income inequality is
efficient and acceptable and, if not, what mix of institutional reforms should be
developed to counter it.
Our politicians, bought and paid for by the elites, are largely responsible for creating policies which have resulted in this mess.
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