This is a very nice exposition of income & tax trends over the last 20-odd years, providing graphic evidence, with documentation, for flat-lining wages & a shift in taxation from the very rich to the middle & upper-middle classes. And it's these changes which are the cause of the present economic crisis.
"...despite the fact that people tend to think of professionals such as doctors and lawyers who make two or three hundred thousand dollars a year as being "rich", the incomes of those professionals are closer to that of the average middle class school teacher than they are to those of the average or above average income receiver in the top 1%."
"Though so much is heard about how the wealthy pay a hugely disproportionate share of taxes, this simply is not the case. Virtually every time someone makes the claim that the wealthy pay a disproportionate amount of the taxes they are discussing only federal income taxes, because the federal income tax is the most progressive major tax in America. However, when all taxes are taken into consideration every group is currently paying a roughly equal share of taxes to their share of national income:"
Change in income tax burden, Bush's 2001 tax cuts:
more here:
http://www.rationalrevolution.net/articles/american_income_taxation.htm