Chimperator Bush's Amerika is certainly becoming a less friendly place for the lower income earners. Of course, Bush's main domestic policy has been to (A) cut taxes for the wealthy and (2) allow lax regulation so that corporate America can earn larger profits. Thus, this headline should be of no surprise. Here are some highlights from RawStory (http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Wealthy_grabbing_larger_share_of_US_1012.html):The superrich are gobbling up an ever larger piece of the economic pie, and the poor are seeing their share of earnings shrink: new IRS data shows the top 1 percent of Americans are claiming a larger share of national income than at any time since before the Great Depression. The top percentile of wealthy Americans earned 21.2 percent of all income in 2005, up from 19 percent in 2004, according to new Internal Revenue Service data published in the Wall Street Journal Friday. Americans in the bottom 50 percent of wage earners saw their share of income shrink to 12.8 percent in 2005, down from 13.4 percent.
The Journal notes that many Americans fear the economy is entering a recession, and the IRS data show income for the median earner fell 2 percent between 2000 and 2005 to $30,881. Earnings for the top 1 percent grew to $364,657 -- a 3 percent uptick.
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