More from Jared Bernstein on income inequality

Jared Bernstein has been digging in to the issue of income inequality recently (see here) and what he finds isn't pretty.  The table below is from his recent post on this subject (click to enlarge).  As I have posted before, income inequality is relatively common in modern capitalist economies.  But the growth of income inequality in the U.S. over the last 30 years is troubling.  As Mr. Bernstein says:

Back in 1979, the average income of the top 1% was about 33 times that of the bottom fifth.  In 2007, that ratio had grown to 100.  The real income of middle-class households grew 19% over these years, less than 1% per year, while that of the top 5% grew by about 150% and the top 1%, by 240%.