[ryanhuff]

Don't you think that the division between rich and poor has historically been worse than it is today? I can't imagine that the early[edit] 1900's, characterized by horrendous labor practices that ultimately brought on the labor movement, were of a society with a more narrow division of rich and poor than of today. I have unsuccessfully looked for a reference to compare today's middle class to those of the early 1900s. Please share if you know of any.

[aptwebapps]

Usually when people talk about the growing income gap they're not looking back as far as the early 1900s. Like here:

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/income-inequalit...

If you want to look further back, you can probably find the data somewhere here:

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/

[jsaxton86]

This isn't perfect, but it's a good start:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2008_Top1percentUSA.png

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_the_United...