How Are The Rich Doing?

In his Mother Jones blog, Kevin Drum checks in to see how the rich are doing in these tough times. Turns out that things are going pretty well.

Drum pulls some data from a Wall Street Journal article that shows exactly how wealth continues to be socked away by an increasingly smaller group of people.

Executives and other highly compensated employees now receive more than one-third of all pay in the U.S.....In the five years ending in 2007, earnings for American workers rose 24%, half the 48% gain for the top-paid. The result: The top-paid represent 33% of the total, up from 28% in 2002.

Think about that - 33% of the total of all pay in the U.S. That doesn't leave much for everyone else, does it?

Keep in mind that Americans only owe payroll taxes on income up to $106,000, so while the rest of us are paying our fair share, the top-paid max out early on and contribute no payroll taxes on their extra accumulated income.

Tell me again what a socialist Obama is for wanting the top 1 1/2% to help fund health care reform with some additional taxation, and try to do it without using the term "robber-barons" to describe those raking in 1/3 of all pay in this country.

Image by jvstin via flickr