Inconvient truth: rising income inequality is a myth

JustOneMinute: "[T]he distribution of income in the U.S. is basically the same as it was a quarter-century ago—and the middle class has gained ground over the last decade."

The ubiquitous references to rising income inequality—with President Obama the offender-in-chief—are erroneous and serve mainly to fan the flames of class warfare in this country. But who benefits from that?

On income redistribution

From a comment on TaxProf Blog: "The untold story is that redistribution of income is, by and large, not designed to help the poor but to preserve social stability on behalf of the rich (or a portion of them). It's like Guido Calabresi used to tell his students on the first day of classes at Yale. Are you in favor of high taxes? Yes. Are you in favor of high spending? Yes. Do you want to see your seats at Yale redistributed to people with lower test scores? Silence. Aha, he would say, you just want to redistribute other people's advantages, not your own."

Income distrubution

I like this chart showing income and tax distributions. So when we talk about taxing the rich, who do we mean? Bill Gates? No. A household income above $114,000 places you in the top 10 percent of income earners. That means that a man making $60K married to a woman making $60K find themselves in the top 10 percent. Not hard to do at all. This could be a policeman and a teacher. A small business owner and a social worker. In my view, they may easily be tea partiers.