Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World

by Adam Tooze

Though there had been many well-intentioned efforts by government agencies to modify and improve the condition of average Americans, on balance their net effect had been modest, to say the least. Between 1977 and 2014 the share of national income going to the top 1 percent before taxes and benefits had risen by 88.8 percent. After fiscal redistribution their share increased by 81.4 percent. Nor did the tax and welfare state prevent the share of the bottom 50 percent from declining from 25.6 to 19.4 percent.25 Nor was this by accident. Every conceivable source of leverage and influence had been exploited by those with money to maximize their advantage. As billionaire investor Warren Buffett famously put it: “Actually, there’s been class warfare going on for the last 20 years, and my class has won.”