Note to Self Tippy-Top Incomes: At the start of the 1970s the top 0.01% of American workers—then some 8000—had incomes, including capital gains, of about 12,500 times the average. Figure, with an average inflation-adjusted income of about 200/day (and a typical income of about 150 per working day), 2,500,000 (that's 2.5 million) inflation-adjusted dollars per day for the top 0.01%. Today that multiple is not 12,500 but rather 50,000, and the gap between average and typical is larger. So while typical incomes have risen little (to perhaps 200/day), the 15000 workers in the top 0.01% of income this year receive an average of 24,000,000 (that is 24 million) dollars a day. Investment firm Citadel founder Ken Griffin bought the most expensive residence we are aware of last January: the penthouse of 220 Central Park South in New York for 240 million. If he were receiving the average income this year for the top 0.01% (which he may not be), that expense would soak up what he receives in 100 working days.
#inequality #notetoself #2019-12-01
