Occupy's One Year Anniversary

One year ago today, protesters gathered in New York’s Zuccotti Park, marking the start of the ongoing Occupy Wall Street movement. In the weeks following this debut, they created what was a frequently dramatic news story. The protestors called attention to a deepening yet unaddressed phenomenon: the income gap between the wealthiest citizens and the “other 99%.” In the year since the start of OWS, however, this issue has yet to be solved.

As the New York Times reports, recent Census Bureau report shows that the income gap in the United States increased again during 2011. While incomes for households in the top quintile increased by 1.6%, incomes declined for middle-class Americans and stagnated for those in the bottom quintile. The article points to declining demand for American manufacturing to explain why middle-income earners were hardest hit in 2011.

Another explanation for this phenomenon might be the declining effect of taxes and transfers on market inequality. According to Congressional Budget Office data, taxes and transfers reduced market inequality by 23.4% in 1979, but only by 17.1% in 2007. Simultaneously, the share of income belonging to the wealthiest one percent of Americans increased from 7.7% in 1979 to 17.1% in 2007.

Since the start of Occupy Wall Street, the inequality crisis has received a lot of attention. Nonetheless, these recent data show that the issue is worsening rather than improving.