“cause that’s where we’re at, economically speaking.  Here’s the charts…

So, what are the protesters so upset about, really?

Do they have legitimate gripes?

To answer the latter question first, yes, they do.

They have very legitimate gripes.

And if America cannot figure out a way to address these gripes, the country will likely become increasingly “de-stabilized,” as sociologists might say. And in that scenario, the current protests will likely be only the beginning.

The problem in a nutshell is this: Inequality in this country has hit a level that has been seen only once in the nation’s history—at the end of the 1920s. Unemployment has also reached a level that has been seen only once since the Great Depression.

In other words, in the never-ending tug-of-war between “labor” and “capital,” there has rarely—if ever—been a time when “capital” was so clearly winning

[full story with lots of links and charts]

There are three charts I would add to that, and they are ones that motivated me on this subject.   This is the first one, it shows both wealth distribution in the real world in the U.S. and wealth distribution in the confused bizarro-world that is U.S. popular opinion  The second one I would add is the one I did back here, it’s the one that shows how public policy fail is a big part of the problem.

The third one I would add to tie together is not done yet, I’ll probably do it this weekend.  It’s the one that ties the two together, and illustrates how public policy for the last 30 years (and especially the last 10) is the proximate cause of the destruction of the middle class that everyone is fretting about so much.