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Rich Gets Richer - Faster

Conservatives frequently marvel at the fact that most Americans are not satisfied with the Bush economy. This might offer a hint as to why. The incre

Conservatives frequently marvel at the fact that most Americans are not satisfied with the Bush economy. This might offer a hint as to why.

The increase in incomes of the top 1 percent of Americans from 2003 to 2005 exceeded the total income of the poorest 20 percent of Americans, data in a new report by the Congressional Budget Office shows.

The poorest fifth of households had total income of $383.4 billion in 2005, while just the increase in income for the top 1 percent came to $524.8 billion, a figure 37 percent higher.

The total income of the top 1.1 million households was $1.8 trillion, or 18.1 percent of the total income of all Americans, up from 14.3 percent of all income in 2003. The total 2005 income of the three million individual Americans at the top was roughly equal to that of the bottom 166 million Americans, analysis of the report showed.

The gains in after-tax income from 2003 to 2005 for the bottom 40% of the country was less than 3%. For the top 1% of the country, it was 43.5%.

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