Don't you think that the division between rich and poor has historically been worse than it is today? I can't imagine that the early[edit] 1900's, characterized by horrendous labor practices that ultimately brought on the labor movement, were of a society with a more narrow division of rich and poor than of today. I have unsuccessfully looked for a reference to compare today's middle class to those of the early 1900s. Please share if you know of any.
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Don't you think that the division between rich and poor has historically been worse than it is today? I can't imagine that the early[edit] 1900's, characterized by horrendous labor practices that ultimately brought on the labor movement, were of a society with a more narrow division of rich and poor than of today. I have unsuccessfully looked for a reference to compare today's middle class to those of the early 1900s. Please share if you know of any.
Usually when people talk about the growing income gap they're not looking back as far as the early 1900s. Like here:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/income-inequalit...
If you want to look further back, you can probably find the data somewhere here:
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/
This isn't perfect, but it's a good start:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2008_Top1percentUSA.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_the_United...