Top 1 percent took in 23.5 percent of total income

[fossten]

I think income stratification is fine - those who have and those who have not is just the way of capitalism. But, the economy can be 'healthy' and 'not healthy', we might not be able to do anything to alter the state of health of the economy - but to bury your head in the sand and just say that I am suddenly going along the lines of class exploitation is wrong shag. Our economy right now isn't all that healthy - there are many problems - huge government spending - foreign markets in a tizzy - inconceivable debt - but, is one of the signs of an unhealthy economy a lot of income concentrated into a very small percentage of the population? It has been in the past an indication of some sort.

In a civilized, truly free society, the poor get richer too.

Taxes and regulation preserve old wealth and make new fortunes impossible. The rich fend off the law, and those below get picked clean by the IRS. The government is the parasite that confiscates half our income, then taxes everything we buy. We struggle to survive on a quarter of our productive capacity - an eighth if you count regulation - while the state consumes the other seven-eighths.