Of course there is!
Since about 1980, things have been getting relatively worse for most people, particularly the poorest 50%, but even in degrees for the next 40%. Now with inflation of prices surging in the last year, the pressure is being felt even more.
The previous article, Losing the Fight for a Better Life, cited the statistics and the source, Thomas Piketty's latest book, "A Brief History of Equality." Here's a chart from his cited figures that shows the changes.
A Brief History of Equality by Thomas Piketty (2022), Fig. 29, p. 153
Another view of the changes in U.S. incomes and wealth are provided by a report of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), a nonpartisan institute, using U.S. Census and tax information:
The broad facts of income inequality over the past seven decades are easily summarized:
The years from the end of World War II into the 1970s were ones of substantial economic growth and broadly shared prosperity.
Incomes grew rapidly and at roughly the same rate up and down the income ladder, roughly doubling in inflation-adjusted terms between the late 1940s and early 1970s.
The gap between those high up the income ladder and those on the middle and lower rungs — while substantial — did not change much during this period.
Beginning in the 1970s, economic growth slowed and the income gap widened.
Income growth for households in the middle and lower parts of the distribution slowed sharply, while incomes at the top continued to grow strongly.
The concentration of income at the very top of the distribution rose to levels last seen nearly a century ago, during the “Roaring Twenties.”
Wealth — the value of a household’s property and financial assets, minus the value of its debts — is much more highly concentrated than income. The best survey data show that the share of wealth held by the top 1 percent rose from 30 percent in 1989 to 39 percent in 2016, while the share held by the bottom 90 percent fell from 33 percent to 23 percent.[1]
This graph shows the dramatic differences in the changes of incomes of the bottom 99% vs. the top 1% since 1980.
Meanwhile, from 1980 to 2016, the period in the graph above, the U.S. Consumer Price Index, the cost of goods of an average urban household, has increased by about 309%![2]
These changes are direct results of policies of the Republican Party, particularly beginning with the "Reagan Revolution."[3]
Upon taking office, the Reagan administration implemented an economic policy based on the theory of supply-side economics. Taxes were reduced through the passage of the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, while the administration also cut domestic spending and increased military spending. Increasing deficits motivated the passage of tax increases during the George H. W. Bush and Clinton administrations, but taxes were cut again with the passage of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. During Clinton's presidency, Republicans won passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, a bill which placed several new limits on those receiving federal assistance.[4]
The Republican Party (GOP) has long had a basic position that is in opposition to the Federal government, except in military and legal matters. They are for ever-increasing military spending, they are for packing courts with conservative judges, acts that limit government actions (except when it comes to regulating sexual and religious activities) and putting people in prison.
They have opposed health care and social security programs for the last 80 years or more, since the days of FDR. They oppose regulation of working conditions, of the environment, of banking and financial operations, and of basic rights and freedoms of individuals against discrimination.
They disparage government employees; they, in essence, promote resistance to Federal government in a way that is just short of sedition!
On January 6, 2021, they attempted to overthrow the inauguration of a new President.[5]
The anger and fear of a vast number of Americans have been manipulated by Republicans, and by Donald Trump in particular, by blaming immigrants, blacks, Hispanics, "elites" and others, while hiding the true causes of the economic inequalities resulting from Republican policies and legislation.
The multiple tax cuts for the rich and corporations, beginning with Reagan, have resulted in huge transfers of income and wealth to the top 10%, particularly the top 1%.
According to a groundbreaking new working paper by Carter C. Price and Kathryn Edwards of the RAND Corporation, had the more equitable income distributions of the three decades following World War II (1945 through 1974) merely held steady, the aggregate annual income of Americans earning below the 90th percentile would have been $2.5 trillion higher in the year 2018 alone. That is an amount equal to nearly 12 percent of GDP—enough to more than double median income—enough to pay every single working American in the bottom nine deciles an additional $1,144 a month. Every month. Every single year.
Price and Edwards calculate that the cumulative tab for our four-decade-long experiment in radical inequality had grown to over $47 trillion from 1975 through 2018. At a recent pace of about $2.5 trillion a year, that number we estimate crossed the $50 trillion mark by early 2020. That’s $50 trillion that would have gone into the paychecks of working Americans had inequality held constant—$50 trillion that would have built a far larger and more prosperous economy—$50 trillion that would have enabled the vast majority of Americans to enter this pandemic far more healthy, resilient, and financially secure.[6]
Usually the scale of the riches doled out by opaque tax legislation — and the beneficiaries — remain shielded from the public. But ProPublica has obtained a trove of IRS records covering thousands of the wealthiest Americans. The records have enabled reporters this year to explore the diverse menu of options the tax code affords the ultrawealthy to avoid paying taxes.
The drafting of the Trump law offers a unique opportunity to examine how the billionaire class is able to shape the code to its advantage, building in new ways to sidestep taxes.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was the biggest rewrite of the code in decades and arguably the most consequential legislative achievement of the one-term president. Crafted largely in secret by a handful of Trump administration officials and members of Congress, the bill was rushed through the legislative process.
As draft language of the bill made its way through Congress, lawmakers friendly to billionaires and their lobbyists were able to nip and tuck and stretch the bill to accommodate a variety of special groups. The flurry of midnight deals and last-minute insertions of language resulted in a vast redistribution of wealth into the pockets of a select set of families, siphoning away billions in tax revenue from the nation’s coffers. This story is based on lobbying and campaign finance disclosures, Treasury Department emails and calendars obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, and confidential tax records.[7]
The Biden Administration has sought to bring some significant aid to the lower 90%. Republicans have blocked significant parts of the proposed legislative changes, when passed in the U.S. House, sometimes with limited Republican votes, by the 50 Republicans in the U.S. Senate.
The true sources of the fear and anger of most Americans need to be exposed before the November 2022 election, lest Republicans again gain unlimited power to further exacerbate these inequalities.[8]
A Guide to Statistics on Historical Trends in Income Inequality | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities↩︎
America's 1% Has Taken $50 Trillion From the Bottom 90% | Time↩︎
Secret IRS Files Reveal How Much the Ultrawealthy Gained by Shaping Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Tax Cut” — ProPublica↩︎
Noam Chomsky Says GOP 'Not a Political Party' but a 'Radical Insurgency'↩︎