How long does this keep on going for? Is there some process or mechanism within the system that will put the brakes on this? Another measure of wealth disparity is the Gini index. We should forget GDP (or GDP with PPP) (or GNP) per capita as a metric. If I live in a country where there are only two people, one of who (not me) earns $1,000,000 per annum and the other (me) earns $10,000 and I'm told that the GDP per capita is $55,000 I'm not going to be impressed. But if the Gini index for my little two person country states that there is a massive imbalance in the distribution of wealth then I'll prefer that index.
What I'm trying to ask is: how long can this keep going on before some sort of underclass revolution kicks in. Or, are the poor in the US not _really_ absolutely poor (like rural farm-hand in China poor) but relatively poor (as in 36" LCD TV instead on 50").
You know what would be a cool hack? Solving this economic train-wreck.