Income inequality after the GFC

There's something going a bit wrong with things as we come out of the GFC, or try and work our way through it, depending on how you look at it. 

I don't begrudge rich people BTW. This isn't about jealousy or culture wars (as the conservatives accuse anyone who mentions income distribution). This is simply about fairness, that's all. Our society is far from perfect, but I do think fairness is a worthy goal to work towards. 

It appears the rich here are taking a greater percentage of income than they used to. You'd think after the 30 year failure of our system we'd be wanting to do things a bit different this time around. But it appears not. The rich here, the top 1%, are currently increasing their percentage of Australia's income, again.

THE 2008-09 financial year - when the global financial crisis took hold - was a bad one for Australia's rich.

As share prices dived, markets froze in fear and everyone's wealth shrank, the top 1 per cent of income earners saw their share of Australia's total taxable income slashed from 10.1 per cent to 8.6 per cent.

But the following year, 2009-10, was better at the top. Calculations by economist and Labor MP Andrew Leigh show that - even after tax accountants had done their best - the top 1 per cent of earners declared 8.9 per cent of all taxable income in Australia. This was almost twice their share 30 years ago. Read more

Pfffft. Here we go again..... How long's it gonna take this time before nothing trickles down, again. Although it doesn't seem a hell of a lot of an increase and is still lower in percentage terms than before the GFC, I think it's a worrying trend.

Same thing in America BTW, only worse:

The top 1 percent of earners in the United States accounted for 20 percent of income in 2008 more

This one is incredible: 

Before the recession, from 2002 to 2007, the richest 1 per cent enjoyed a generous 65 per cent of the gain in total national income. In 2010, it was a startling 93 per cent. more