Average US Incomes Still Below 2000 Peak, Rich Get Richer

But the Dow…? But isn’t it a good thing? You mean wages have been stagnant? That’s unpossible!

Total income listed on tax returns grew every year after World War II, with a single one-year exception, until 2001, making the five-year period of lower average incomes and four years of lower total incomes a new experience for the majority of Americans born since 1945.

Wait for it:

The growth in total incomes was concentrated among those making more than $1 million. The number of such taxpayers grew by more than 26 percent, to 303,817 in 2005, from 239,685 in 2000.