A Question for Conservatives

Next to 'The Fix', Cagle's blog with his assortment of Editorial cartoons should be a regular stop, and his collection of columns can be a must read.

Today's installment is 'The Question Conservatives Can't Answer'

The following fact was sent to numerous conservative pundits, politicians, and profitseekers:

Based on Tax Foundation figures, the richest 1 percent has TRIPLED its share of America’s income over the past 30 years. Much of the gain came from tax cuts and minimally taxed financial instruments. If their income had increased only at the pace of American productivity (80 percent), they would be taking about a TRILLION DOLLARS LESS out of our economy.

And a question was posed:

In what way do the richest 1 percent deserve these extraordinary gains?

Care to take a stab at it. If we were experiencing the boom we were led to believe would happen under these policies, they may be justifiable. But in reality, and as predicted by many of us, this only took money out of the economy, stalling it, and creating a catalyst for economic tumult.

Here, take a peek at the raw data in the article:

But based on 1980 dollars and IRS data, this is how U.S. income has been redistributed since that time:

• Incomes for the top 1 percent have gone from $148,000 to $450,000
• Incomes for the next 9 percent have gone from $46,000 to $50,000
• Incomes for the next 40 percent have gone from $17,500 to $15,000
• Incomes for the bottom 50 percent have gone from $5,400 to $3,750