<p>StitchInTime, your posts are so far from proving anything at all that I’ve had to struggle to try to figure out what you thought they proved. I think this is your point:
So your point is that if any single individual, over the course of his life, transitions from poor to middle class, or middle class to affluent, then that disproves the fact of income redistribution? </p>
<p>But that’s not correct. In fact, it’s essentially silly. We’ve had a series of posts discussing the overall change in income and wealth which took place around 1980. Actual personal income at the 50th percentile has declined, at the 75th % it is static, at the 99th it has dramatically increased. Before 1983 all segments of society saw gradual increases in net household wealth; after that time the wealth of the top level of society increased dramatically while that of the rest of the nation stagnated. Cold, hard facts, true of the nation as a whole, carefully researched and doumented.</p>
<p>And you give us an anecdote about one guy. If, as you seem to believe, Jack Levis was actually a working stiff package sorter in 1976 and somehow after that acquired a college degree from CSU Northridge, Master’s certificate from George Washington U, and ended up as a presumably well paid executive by 1982, good for Jack. (Of course, the probability is that what you’ve assumed from the abbreviated biography you’ve posted is wrong, and Jack’s actual life story is similar to my own, as outlined in post #77 - but that doesn’t actually matter - lets use your version.) There’s always been some degree of movement between economic strata - although now it’s less than ever before, That doesn’t change the fact of economic wealth distribution between the haves and have-nots in America. The fact that one guy can improve his lot in life doesn’t change the fact that middle income Americans as a whole are worse off - or at best, no better off - today than they were in 1980, while the wealthiest among us have enjoyed dramatic increases in income and wealth. </p>
<p>And frankly, I can’t see why you think it does. Do you actually not understand the substance of this thread, or do you understand it and are actively trying to muddy the water? And does that explain the bold print and goofy links?</p>