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The top captures all the economic growth: http://time.com/money/4371332/income-inequality-recession/ http://time.com/money/4371332/income-inequality-recession/

• rconti 9y ago
  This doesn't give me a great feeling for whether they're recapturing losses from the downturn (from which the rich 'suffered' disproportionately due to their heavy involvement in asset markets), or whether that 85% of the gains is in proportion to what they already took home in proportion of total dollars. It could be they're taking home 95% of the income so capturing 85% of the growth is actually relatively low. I just don't know.
  • linkregister 9y ago
    The poorest quintile suffered disproportionately, particularly minority workers.
    • rconti 9y ago
      I'm sorry, I meant in absolute dollar terms (which is why I put 'suffered' in quotes for the rich). That's not meant to minimize the fact that the poorest had the most actual suffering. (and, likely, on average, the greatest % decrease in earned income due to unemployment).
      • linkregister 9y ago
        I was speaking in terms of percentages. In absolute terms, it's almost a meaningless comparison because the highest quintile will almost always experience a larger dollar fluctuation.
        • rconti 9y ago
          The problem is the article terms the rich as getting "85% of the gains" which, while a percentage figure, is not a percentage of their wealth -- it's percent of actual dollar figures. So if we're trying to decide whether or not they disproportionately profited from the rebound, we'd have to figure out how it compared to their losses.