A NYT article about the .01 Percent had a quote from Warren Buffet that caught my attention: “‘This is a significantly richer country than 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago,’ he declared, backing his assertion with a favorite statistic. The national income, divided by the population, is a very abundant $45,000 per capita, he said, a number that reflects an affluent nation but also obscures the lopsided income distribution intertwined with the prosperity.” This graph was an attempt to visualize that statistic. (Keep in mind that the numbers are in 2000 US$)
{Click on the graph to take a closer look} 
The US Gross National Income (GNI) represents the total buying power of citizens of the United States. This buying power can be transferred around the economy by taxation and lending. GNI includes Wages and Salaries + Rents + Interest + Profits (also includes Depreciation of Capital + Sales taxes – Subsidies). Since it is “National” it measures income from resources owned by the citizens of the United States, regardless where the production occurs. Gross national income is identical to gross national product (GNP).
The Real GNI data can be found at Bureau of Economic Analysis National Economic Accounts Table 1.7.6. Population data can be found at Census Historical Series and Census Current Estimates .
[tags]income distribution, US income distribution, United States GNI, National Income[/tags]
by Catherine Mulbrandon
in Other
In my earlier post on Sources of Income of the super rich I plotted the percentage of income that comes from wages, entrepreneurial income, dividend income, interest income, rental income, and capital gains for the Top 0.01 percent. Here I am posting the same data but this time all income sources are on the same graph.
{Click on the graph to take a closer look}
A few items that caught my attention: the decline (starting in the 1930s) of the importance of Dividend income which was replaced in part by “Entrepreneurial” income then Capitals Gains and finally in the 60s by Wages. Also in the 70s and 80s Interest income becomes more important no doubt due to the high interest rates during those decades.
The income data can be found on Emmanuel Saez’s web site.
[tags]income distribution, US income distribution, US income inequality, income inequality, capital gains, super rich[/tags]
by Catherine Mulbrandon
in Other
In my earlier post on Sources of Income of the super rich I plotted the percentage of income that comes from wages, entrepreneurial income, dividend income, interest income, and rental income for the Top 0.01 percent; but this did not include capital gains. In 2005 capital gains was 18% of the income of the super rich (if you exclude capital gains when determining the Top 0.01 percent).
In the graphs below, I have plotted the all 6 income sources for Top 0.01% (this time including capital gains as one of the income sources).
{Click on the graph to take a closer look}
The income data can be found on Emmanuel Saez’s web site.
[tags]income distribution, US income distribution, US income inequality, income inequality, capital gains, super rich[/tags]
by Catherine Mulbrandon
in Other
If after looking at the graphs I created (based the income data from the Congressional Budget Office) you decide you want to learn more about how the CBO calculates their numbers. You can take a look at an analysis of their report.
The following outlines the components of income included in the CBO’s analysis:
* Cash income, taxable and tax exempt, including wages, salaries, self-employment income, rents, taxable and nontaxable interest, dividends, realized capital gains, cash transfer payments, and retirement benefits
* Business taxes, including corporate income taxes, the employer’s share of Social Security, Medicare, and federal unemployment insurance payroll taxes (imputed to households, as per the assumptions on tax incidence above)
* Employees contributions to 401(k) retirement plans
* All in-kind benefits (Medicare, Medicaid, employer-paid health insurance premiums, food stamps, school lunches and breakfasts, housing assistance, and energy assistance)
Note that CBO:
* uses the Census Bureau’s fungible value measure for government in-kind transfers;
* does not adjust capital gains for inflation, and does not include unrealized capital gains or imputed rents on owner-occupied housing (see [1], pp. 23–24); and,
* double counts retirement income (see [1], p. 21).
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