#occupy #ows #p2 #p21 #tlot #tcot #teaparty #union #iww Income Inequality Costs The Middle Class $18,000 A Year http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/08/27/3476237/income-inequality-middle-class/ The growth of income inequality between 1979 and 2007 has reduced middle-class incomes by $17,890 a year, or about 23 percent, according to a new paper from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). “In other words, if inequality had not risen between 1979 and 2007, middle-class incomes would have been nearly $18,000 higher in 2007,” author Elise Gould writes. The paper notes that during that time period, income for more than 90 percent of American households grew more slowly than average income growth. That’s because the average was skewed by fast growth at the top: Income growth for households between the top 96th and 99th percentiles grew by more than 78 percent, and the top 1 percent’s income growth was a whopping 245 percent. That last figure is nearly five times as fast as overall average income growth during that time period...