Study: Econ. Inequality Is a Permanent US Factor; Rich Are Getting Richer and Poor Get Poorer in US

A new study by a team of economists in academia and the U.S. government has found that economic inequality is a permanent -- and not a temporary -- feature in the United States, based on an analysis of 350,000 federal income tax returns between 1987 and 2009, the Alter Net website reports today (March 23, 2013).

"For household income -- both before and after taxes -- the increase in inequality over this period was predominantly, although not entirely, permanent," the highly technical report concluded.

The study by economists at two state universities, the Federal Reserve, and the U.S. Treasury Department also found -- not surprisingly -- that the wealthiest Americans consume more than less well-off people, and that disparity causes poorer Americans to suffer as a result.

Simply put, the study confirms what Vermont's U.S. Sen. Bernard Sanders has been saying for years: "The rich are are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer." It also verifies what the famous 19th century German philosopher and economist Karl Marx -- who preferred communism because it was a fairer economic system for a nation's people than capitalism -- said in his "Communist Manifesto" book; namely, that under capitalism, the wealthy exploit the poor, and the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.