Sorry Occupiers, but the 1% ain't what it used to be

Its share of income fell to 17 percent in 2009 from 23 percent in 2007, right before the recession. The drop was largely due to the market meltdown - hedge funds declined nearly 20 percent in 2008. Not that the 1 percent isn't filthy rich anymore - just not as filthy as before the downturn. From the NYT:

"It's very interesting that this has become such a big topic now when the numbers are back to where they were in the 1990s," said Steven Kaplan, an economist at the University of Chicago's business school. "People didn't seem to be complaining about it then." In 2009 the average income of the top 1 percent, adjusted for inflation, fell below its 1998 level, but remained well above where it was in 1990: $662,000.

That's a key point - the already well-to-do became significantly richer in the 1990s and 2000s, mainly because of new financial products that provided crazy-high returns. For anyone who was paying attention, this influx of wealth is actually a pretty old story.