In fact, the 400 wealthiest Americans now own more than the "lower" 150 million Americans put together. Indeed, if you look at the reports it compiles on every country in the world, even the CIA has concluded that wealth disparity is greater in the US than in Tunisia or Egypt. -nice inference there. Former Citigroup CEO Sanford Weill, for example, kept a framed pen in his office as a symbol of his influence. It was the pen President Bill Clinton -- at Weill's instigation -- used in 1999 to sign into law legislation repealing the provisions in the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 that separated the transactions of investment and commercial banks. -fucker. In the 1970s, capital gains tax was 40 percent, and the highest income tax bracket paid a rate of 70 percent. Under George W. Bush, these rates dropped to 15 percent and 35 percent, respectively. Interesting article. Do you remember Joe the Plumber? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRPbCSSXyp0 A friend of mine showed me that video before the media got to it. I watched it thought it was a rational argument for moving the tax code just a bit back towards where it had been for most of the last century. Obama was talking about going from a marginal rate of 36% to 39% for earnings beyond $250k. It's unfortunate that he used the phrase 'spread the wealth around', because although that is exactly what progressive tax rates do, it is socialism to FoxNews. But, here we are: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MarginalIncomeTax.svg Hm... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chart_of_US_Top_1%25_Incom...
.svg){kind=link}
"Still, that's nothing compared to the trend in executives' salaries. In 1980, American CEOs earned 42 times more than the average employee. Today, that figure has skyrocketed to more than 300 times. Last year, 25 of the country's highest-paid CEOs earned more than their companies paid in taxes". I think 42 times the average employees income seems excessive, yet alone 300!