Myth Busters: Income Inequality (Audio: Podcast)

Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) Podcast

Income inequality has become a progressive rallying cry, asserting that income inequality has exploded. Proponents claim government data show that the top 20% of workers earn 16.7 dollars for every dollar the bottom 20% earn. True? NO! A new book by former Senator Phil Gramm, Robert Ekelund and John Early explain that when all transfer payments to lower-income families are included, and when the taxes paid by higher-income families are excluded from income (because don't actually receive that money), the income inequality gap is a mere 4 to 1. On this IPI podcast, John Early, an economist who twice served as assistant commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistic, joins IPI Resident Scholar Merrill Matthews to discuss his book that demolishes the current income inequality hysterics.