Income Gap Highest in 30 Years

The poorest among us have increased their incomes by only $1,600 in 27 years - that's 16 cents per day.

Buried on page 15 of the National section in the NYT yesterday is coverage of a new report from the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities, demonstrating that the poorest among us - mostly jobless households with children - were not benefiting from our safety net programs (e.g., food stamps, etc.).

This is no newsflash; our safety net is designed specifically around temporary hardship.  Lost your job and need food stamps or cash subsidies for a bit?  No problem!  But if you've got any condition that makes holding a job difficult (disability, young children, lack of a good education and a diploma), then you're screwed.  Time limits, and emphasis on low-wage work at any cost over educational gains and child care assistance guarantees that we will consistently leave (mostly) single mothers with young children behind.  That's how we've chosen to structure the system and it delivers long-term consequences for these households.

When I went looking for the report on the Center's website, though, I found this (I can't discover the NYT-referenced report, I'll keep looking):

...in 2006, the top 1 percent of households had a larger share of the nation’s after-tax income, and the middle and bottom fifths of households had smaller shares, than in any year since 1979, the first year the CBO data cover...The data reveal starkly uneven income growth over recent decades. Between 1979 and 2006, real after-tax incomes rose by 256 percent — or $863,000 — for the top 1 percent of households, compared to 21 percent — or $9,200 — for households in the middle fifth of households and 11 percent — or $1,600 — for households in the bottom fifth. (my emphases)

Could this data be any starker?  Bush era policies, basically Reaganomics on crack (heh), have dismissed the vast majority of us, not just the very poor.  But for the most vulnerable, the effects have been brutal. $1,600 over 27 years? I know this isn't really acceptable as a back-of-the-envelope calculation, but consider this: that amounts to less than $5 per month, or about $.16 per day.  Heck, we spend more than that to sponsor a child through the Christian Children's Fund.

The report points out that inequality will likely shrink in this recession, but in miniscule part because of a temporary targeted redistribution of funds to struggling households.  I feel like a broken record here lately: how can we use this moment of crisis to advocate for - and achieve - a sturdier, more equitable, more realistic, social safety net?

(Graph from the CBPP report on the income gap shows that the top 20% of earners in the US take home more than 50% of all after-tax income.)