The poverty rate apparently increased slightly from 2003 to 2004, which might provide fuel for those who think the economy is in worse shape than the statistics suggest -- although they'll have to deal with Mollie Orshansky's accidental definition of poverty first. Much more interesting is the revelation all the way down in paragraph sixteen that income inequality was near all-time highs in 2004.
It turns out that the all-time highs for income inequality were right before WW1 -- once the war began, income taxes went through the roof, particularly in the higher brackets, and things flattened out (and of course the New Deal and the WW2 war effort flattened things out even further). Just yesterday there was this article measuring the dollar cost of the current war effort against that of WW1, even though the government has found completely different ways to pay for them. Does this mean the broad societal consequences of these expensive wars will be avoided? And if so, considering that one of those consequences was more income equality, is that a good thing?
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