Middle-income and poor families struck by layoffs and pay cuts, have been hit the hardest by the worst recession in decades, widening the economic gap between the richest and poorest Americans.
The wealthiest 10% of Americans, making more than $138,000 annually, earned 11.4 times the estimated $12,000 made by those living near or below the poverty line in 2008, according to the recently released census figures.
Across all groups, household income fell, but middle class and poor Americans suffered the sharpest declines. Median salaries slid from $52,163 to $50,303, reversing the decade long trend of rising incomes. Analysts have credited the wave of layoffs with the widening income gap, saying that while the richest Americans may have taken pay cuts, those at the bottom of the income ladder have become unemployed.
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