This is more of a graphic with an article included, not the other way around. The picture is the story; the piece itself is more of a caption.
As mentioned (see Sept. 8 blog post; see also Aug. 23), the US income gap began growing at precisely the same time Washington began moving in a neoliberal/libertarian direction. The information in the graphic was the result of policy, not natural fluctuation. Deregulation, cutting taxes for the wealthy, and cutting social spending for the lower strata continue to produce failing outcomes. There is now thirty years of evidence.
One of the core doctrines in the belief system called libertarianism is that the "free market" is the answer to the country's economic woes, nay the answer to everything. To privatize is to improve. In other words, the profit motive keeps people on the straight and narrow.
Presumably, those who advocate this kind of reasoning divide into two groups: those who truly believe it and those who know better. It would be interesting to see a psychological study of the two sets and how they contrast.
http://money.cnn.com/2012/09/11/news/economy/wealth-net-worth/index.html
