tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685155377705481833.post3604596037076667188..comments2023-09-22T03:17:50.469-04:00Comments on Middle Class Political Economist: It's the Middle Class, Stupid! (Review)Kenneth Thomashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747704671007690674noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685155377705481833.post-92178939649499160362012-08-02T04:26:51.105-04:002012-08-02T04:26:51.105-04:00Thanks for your comment. There is no question that...Thanks for your comment. There is no question that Clinton was better for labor in the ways you say, but there were also increases in the minimum wage during the George HW Bush and second GW Bush administrations, let's not forget. If you look at the book's chart on page 52 and compare it with the S&P 500 index, you will see that the 1%'s income gains track the stock market closely, so its increase in the 2000s is also due to capital gains. Finally, I think the authors should not have hidden behind claims about the top 5% not doing any better than anyone else during the Clinton years without explaining why their own chart showed that the top 1% was making out like gangbusters during the same period.Kenneth Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05747704671007690674noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685155377705481833.post-84912282296341052322012-08-01T14:45:46.277-04:002012-08-01T14:45:46.277-04:00Your comment about inequality during the Clinton a...Your comment about inequality during the Clinton administration is misleading. The bottom 20% did far better in income growth than during the Reagan administration -- or any other Republican administration for that matter -- while the growing gap with the extremely wealthy was primarily an artifact of their capital gains windfalls during the stock market bubble. Clinton's presidency is properly to be excoriated for its deregulation of the finance industry, but among raising the minimum wage, increasing the earned-income credit and top marginal tax rates, and more benign approaches to labor (including hands-off during the successful UPS strike), there were successful moves to improve conditions for low income Americans. The poverty rate sunk to its lowest level ever before Bush blew away the social contract that Clinton was succeeding in restoring.urban legendnoreply@blogger.com