America's income inequality in a graphic

The graphic strikingly captures the nature of income growth and resultant contribution to widening inequality in the United States. Though median income grew from $8,734 in 1970 to $49,445 in 2010, almost all the real income gains were captured by those at the top 10%. The contrast with economic growth in the previous half-century could not have been starker.

In fact, as Emmanuel Saez has documented, during the 2010 recovery, the top 1 percent captured 93 percent of the income gains, while the incomes of the 99 percent essentially remained flat.