Why is the income gap rising?

[Epidemic]

Is this a product of the evil ambitions of companies?

Or is this the product of the underclass outbreeding their means?

Can an economy actually even bring up the standard of living for the underclass if their rate of increase continues at current rate or even increases?

[J-Excel]

Is it? Recently? Are you talking in just the US? Might be the difference between the former and current administrations.

[Theophylact]

Hey, Epidemic, why don't you go get us some stats on the birth rate of the "underclass" versus the birth rate of the (presumably) rest of us. Then get us some stats on the income gap between the rest of us and the upper 1%. Then we can talk.

My impression is that the birth rate of the lowest-income 10% of the population has dropped in recent years, though not as much as the average. My impression is also that the income gap between the middle 80% and the top 1% has risen dramatically.

But if it's just overall "impressions" rather than facts, neither of us has any business sounding off about it, do we?

Epidemic, I think its evil companies and their evil directors/management that keeps paying to themselves even when company goes kaput.

Government watchdog and taxpayers'-rights groups have blasted Congress for giving itself a $5,000 pay raise this year – for the fourth year in a row...

[Epidemic]

http://www.cba.uiuc.edu/econ315spring2000/Lecture8.html

This one suggests that alot of the people living below the poverty line are caused by single parent families.

[Epidemic]

shahani,
Bottom line how much of the GNP is going to these CEO's or even how much per companies monies are going to fund these few workers? If you were to divey out the money from these CEO's how much would the base employee salary be increased?

Originally posted by shahani
Epidemic, I think its evil companies and their evil directors/management that keeps paying to themselves even when company goes kaput.

[Theophylact]

a lot of the people living below the poverty line are caused by single parent families.

Epidemic, there's not much question about that. What I want to know is, is this problem getting worse, or better? If it's the latter, it can't account for an increase in the income gap.

Certainly the conservatives who were for welfare reform would claim the situation has improved, by cutting off AFDC (aid to families with dependent children) and putting the parents, single or otherwise, back to work. Do you disagree?

[J-Excel]

The rise in the percentage of single parent families, and the rise in the percentage of single parent families in the underclass, does not necessarily mean that there is uncontrolled breeding of the underclass. Just that more two-parent families are becoming one-parent families. Many two-parent families are two-income families. So you'd expect on average that the income of a one-parent familiy is about half that of a two-parent family.

Ep, figguring out what they payes themselves and what would be savved to payy to the underlings is an impossible task.

It is a fact though that the "rich get richher". No doubt about it al all. Excatly how then done it only they knows fer shure.