Everyone's Incomes Went Down Last Year, Except the Richest
Keeping abreast of the latest movements in America's class war: the rich are still winning.
According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics figures, for the year from June 2013-June 2014, every single segment of American workers saw its income decline compared to the year before—except for the top 20% of earners.
The bottom 20% of earners saw their income decline 3.5%
The second 20% of earners saw their income decline 2.7%
The third 20% of earners saw their income decline 2.8%
The fourth 20% of earners saw their income decline 2.1%
The top 20% of earners saw their income rise by almost 1%.
The BLS does not break out statistics more finely, but it is a safe bet that a large portion of the gains of the top 20% of earners were driven by disproportionate gains for the top 10%, and the top 5%, and the top 1%, and the top 0.1%. This is the second straight year that average incomes have declined.
Consider the fact that over the same period of time that incomes were declining for at least 80% of Americans, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by more than 10%. Thus the owners of capital grow wealthier while the majority of people who live by their labor grow poorer.
This has been your class war update. Please try to stop losing so much.