400 richest Americans’ incomes doubled under Bush.

[ProSense]

400 richest Americans’ incomes doubled under Bush.

Bloomberg reports that, according to recently released IRS data, “the average tax rate paid by the richest 400 Americans fell by a third to 17.2 percent through the first six years of the Bush administration and their average income doubled to $263.3 million.” Much of their income came from capital gains resulting from the Bush tax cuts:

The drop from 2001’s tax rate of 22.9 percent was due largely to ex-President George W. Bush’s push to cut tax rates on most capital gains to 15 percent in 2003.

Capital gains made up 63 percent of the richest 400 Americans’ adjusted gross income in 2006, or a combined $66.1 billion, according to the data. In all, the 400 wealthiest Americans reported a combined $105.3 billion of adjusted gross income in 2006, the most recent year for which the IRS has data.

The Wonk Room has noted how “the conservative approach of putting big corporations and the very wealthy ahead of the middle class has failed to create prosperity that can be shared by all Americans.”

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. 2 million people making $50,000 a year.

Adjusted, of course.

[Number23]

2. Here in Australia, the local media was simply gobsmacked when Obama was being called

a "socialist" by the minimum wage, Repub crowd during the campaign. They were shocked that folks who couldn't pay their bills or their mortgages were screaming "socialism" at someone whose plan was to increase and improve their way of life.

After reading this story, it does make a bit more sense. The Repubs at the bottom of the totem pole seem genuinely happy to continue to prop the folks at the top on their backs.

[ProSense]

3. Pure ignorance.

The repubs at the top thrive on wingnut ignorance.

[WinkyDink]

4. Mission Accomplished.

And this one is for real.

[awoke_in_2003]

5. And the repubs claim...

that democrats are the ones who embrace wealth distribution.

[Kaylee]

6. Hey! Where's my trickle down....

And yet, they keep trying the same thing decade after decade.:eyes:

[cherish44]

7. anyone know how much Cheney's Haliburton made in the Bush years?

Bet Dead eye Dick is one rich sumbitch now.

[ProSense]

8. While the rich got richer: "Steep Slide in Economy as Unsold Goods Pile Up"

Steep Slide in Economy as Unsold Goods Pile Up

By LOUIS UCHITELLE
Published: January 30, 2009

The economy shrank at an accelerating pace late last year, the government reported on Friday, adding to the urgency of a stimulus package capable of bringing the country back from a recession that appears to be deepening.

The actual decline in the gross domestic product — at a 3.8 percent annual rate — fell short of the 5 to 6 percent that most economists had expected for the fourth quarter. But that was because consumption collapsed so quickly that goods piled up in inventory, unsold but counted as part of the nation’s output.

“The drop in spending was so fast, so rapid, that production could not be cut fast enough,” said Nigel Gault, chief domestic economist at IHS Global Insight. “That is happening now, and the contraction in the current quarter, as a result, will probably exceed 5 percent.”

The dismal fourth quarter, and the likelihood of more of the same through the spring, are fueling discussion among policy makers and politicians over the best way to spend the soon-to-be-authorized federal money.

Some caution that President Obama’s proposals try to achieve too many objectives — for example, broader health care coverage and energy efficiency — at the expense of focusing tax dollars on the core issue of job creation. By this argument, more should be spent on things like infrastructure repair, either directly or by channeling money to the states for projects now delayed for lack of adequate tax revenue.

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