The Rich Get "Slightly Less Baller"

Greg Mankiw points out that we've been forgetting about a demographic that has been hit extra hard by the economic downturn... the rich:

Here is a fact that you might not have heard from the Occupy Wall Street crowd: The incomes at the top of the income distribution have fallen substantially over the past few years.

That's right kids... in 2009, the top 1% of earners made only 13.2x more on average than the rest of the top 50% (i.e. by definition those that are themselves better off than the average), down from a peak of 16.3x in 2007. Ignore the fact that this is still almost twice the level seen in the early 1980's.

I should also point out that the title of his post is "The Rich Get Poorer", so before I sign off why don't we quickly take a look at the definition of poorer:

1. Having little or no wealth and few or no possessions.
2. Lacking in a specified resource or quality: an area poor in timber and coal.
3. Not adequate in quality; inferior.
4. Lacking in value; insufficient.
5. Lacking fertility.
6. Undernourished; lean.
7. Humble.
8. Eliciting or deserving pity; pitiable.

Way to show those Occupy Wall Streeters some perspective!

Source: Tax Foundation