by thenewgreen

in 2008, the United States suffered the worst financial crash since 1929. It was followed by the worst downturn since the Great Depression. Big banks, which had bent the law to reap millions, were widely seen to have precipitated the calamity. And the super-rich, in turn, have been the big winners in the recovery: Labor participation has been at record lows and workers’ wages are lagging, yet the income of the top one percent has continued to skyrocket: According to University of California economist Emanuel Saez, it shot up 31.4 percent from 2009 to 2012.