[chrismanfrank]

"Of course the poorest people are more likely to gain in income -- when you start at the bottom, there's really only one direction you can go."

But doesn't this claim in itself refute the thesis that all the income gains are going to the top? If we find people at the bottom gaining income far faster than people at the top, which is what my quote claims, isn't that evidence that we live in a just society, not an unjust one?

[krisgee]

Firstly as pointed out in other comments they were measuring income. People at higher incomes in the 80s were probably more likely to retire early or "on time". A more representative number would be wealth which I would imagine is probably horrifying in the vein that the parent and grandparent meant. People living hand to mouth in the 80s were probably doing the same in 2014. People who could save probably weren't.

Even just from the numbers presented imagine the lower percentile person who was making say 10k in constant dollars in the 80s. They're making 20k (100% increase) in same dollars in 2014.

Imagining the person in top was making 1,000,000 dollars in constant dollars they dropped 29% so they're now "only" making 750kish.

I know which group I'd rather be in.

[physcab]

No, because what you’re measuring is rate of change vs volume. If you made $1 and now you make $2, that is 100% growth in income. If you made $1M and now make $1.2M that is 20% growth, but in absolute dollars you make way more.