>> per capita. As I already replied (to another poster), my bad. >> You get what you agree to in exchange for your efforts. If you work the same menial job ye

>> per capita. As I already replied (to another poster), my bad. >> You get what you agree to in exchange for your efforts. If you work the same menial job year after year, don't expect much income growth. This just isn't true. A menial worker makes a little more than they would have in 1960, and a lot more than they would have in 1920. Innovation trickles down. Rich bankers riding a bubble on the way up, and bailouts on the way down does not. "The system" isn't totally broken, but it's a little rigged. It always has been. The more corrupt the system is, the more certain people get paid for not innovating, taking risks, and working hard; which doesn't create a lot of real growth. I'd say a lot of the corrupt growth is the result of bubbles at the moment - making short term gains at the cost of long-term gains. Tactics include dodgy financialization, creative accounting, ripping off customers at the cost of goodwill, mistreating employees then being screwed when talented staff abandon the company, outsourcing cost centers then getting hit by bait-and-switch prices (Chinese and Indian wages will rise), and so on. People who are already rich benefit (due to good dividends, higher stock prices, and performance bonuses), but will lose in the long run (unless they get bailed out). Nobody complained when the rich were making money, because they though the benefits would trickle down; but now that a lot of the benefits have proved to be illusionary, people are pissed. Name one person (not a left-wing nut-job) who bagged the Enron execs when everyone thought they were actually making money ;) My point is, I don't see any good reason for relative difference between the rich and poor to change over time (past a certain point, say, what it was in the 60s). If it does, it might be because something is broken.