Cartoon of the day

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Cartoon of the day

Special mention

Economist of the day

Daniel Alpert gets it just about right:

The Fed is engaged in “trickle-down monetary policy,” said Daniel Alpert, managing partner of Westwood Capital, an investment bank. “This type of monetary policy is making the wealthy wealthier and hoping that it trickles down to the shop floor.”

But “trickle down has never worked,” he said. “The wealthy don’t need to consume. And when there is oversupply of capacity, the wealthy don’t need to invest in new capacity.”

Cartoon of the day

Special mention

 

Chart of the day

According to Larry Mishell,

the share of capital income (such as profits and interest, which are hereafter referred to as ‘profits’) in the corporate sector increased to 25.6 percent in 2012, the highest in any year since 1950-1951 and far higher than the 19.9 percent share prevailing over 1969-2007, the five business cycles preceding the financial crisis. . .

We now have an economy built to assure high corporate profitability even when it’s operating far below capacity and when most families and workers are faring poorly. This is further evidence that there is a remarkable disconnect between the fortunes of business and those best-off (high-income households) and the vast majority.

Cartoon of the day

 

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Chart of the day

As David Cay Johnston explains,

In 2011 the average AGI [adjusted gross income] of the vast majority fell to $30,437 per taxpayer, its lowest level since 1966 when measured in 2011 dollars. The vast majority averaged a mere $59 more in 2011 than in 1966. For the top 10 percent, by the same measures, average income rose by $116,071 to $254,864, an increase of 84 percent over 1966.

Plot those numbers on a chart, with one inch for $59, and the top 10 percent’s line would extend more than 163 feet.

Now compare the vast majority’s $59 with the top 1 percent, and that line extends for 884 feet. The top 1 percent of the top 1 percent, whose 2011 average income of $23.7 million was $18.4 million more per taxpayer than in 1966, would require a line nearly five miles long.

Got it? One inch (for the bottom 90 percent) versus 4.9 miles (for the top .01 percent).

The result was that, between 1966 and 2011, the income share of the bottom 90 percent fell from 66.3 percent to 51.8 percent.

Cartoon of the day

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Path to prosperity—for a few

Paul Ryan’s new budget represents a path to prosperity for a few at the very top.

That’s the conclusion of a new report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

We estimate. . .that the individual income tax cuts specified in the Ryan budget (assuming they met their goals, including the 25 percent top rate) would give an average $330,000 a piece to households with annual incomes above $1 million — compared to an average $1,700 tax cut for middle-class households with incomes between $50,000 and $75,000 (see first chart).

The tax cuts would raise after-tax incomes by 15.4 percent among millionaire households but by just 1.8 percent for households with incomes between $50,000 and $75,000 (see second chart).

Yeesterday, Ryan’s budget passed in the House of Representatives (by a vote of 221-207) but, fortunately, was rejected by the Senate (40-59).

Cartoon of the day

Special mention