The Second Gilded Age: Has America Become an Oligarchy?

Excellent article from Germany's Der Spiegel news magazine:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,793896,00.html

Through the 1970s, income for Americans across all social classes rose nearly in lockstep, by an annual average of roughly 3 percent. Starting in the 1980s, however, this trend underwent a fundamental transformation. Granted, the economy continued to grow -- but almost exclusively to the benefit of the country's top earners. The major economic expansion under President Ronald Reagan benefited only a few, and the problem only grew worse under George W. Bush.