Grab a hankie. There are two inequality narratives floating around the
presidential election, according to CNBC.
The first is that the incomes of the rich have continued to rise in
recent years. The second is that soaring salaries for the rich are a
consequence of trickle-down, supply-side economics that began with Ronald
Reagan's presidency and accelerated under President George W. Bush.
New stats from the Census Bureau, however, tell a different
story. They show that salaries for the top five percent of earners rose fastest
under the Clinton administration. Between
1992 and 2000, the income cut-off for the top five percent – the lowest income
you could make and qualify for that elite group – rose by 21 percent. That
compares with flat incomes for the top five percent under Bush, and a slight
decline in the top 5 percent income-cut off under President Barack Obama.
Of course, cut-offs don’t tell us what happened to the total
income of all Five Percenters. A select group of big gainers at the top might
skew those results…..
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