Income inequality has been increasing, according to standard statistics. Yet most Americans do not seem very perturbed by it.
Talking about our federal tax rates, Barone observes:
Current tax rates mean that the top 1 percent of earners account for 40 percent of federal income tax revenue.
In other words, in a nation of 308 million people, less than three million people pay four out of every ten income tax dollars. How do most of us feel?
I suspect that most Americans would be thrilled to get a 13th month of pay. But they're not seething with envy at those who are better off.
Barone concludes about who does most of the resenting:
One example is the cartoonist and author Garry Trudeau, a college classmate of George W. Bush, who has been spewing contempt for the Bushes for 40-some years. The strongest class envy in America, it turns out, may be the resentment of those who were one club above you at Yale.
I know of people who own Learjets and the like, but I'm not worried that I don't own one. I think Barone has it right, see what you think.
