Condemned to plutocracy? The relentless rise of US inequality

Economy The Guardian By Eduardo Porter 21 Jun 2026 08:00 1 min read

Elon Musk is a beneficiary of America’s lopsided prosperity – does the country have any appetite for redistribution? As Barack Obama’s presidency was coming to a close, Jason Furman, then chairman of the president’s council of economic advisers, laid out the strides his administration had made to curb the nation’s exorbitant income inequality in “the largest investments in reducing inequality since the Great Society”. Indeed, by the end of 2016, taxes and transfers cut the share of income accrui

Elon Musk is a beneficiary of America’s lopsided prosperity – does the country have any appetite for redistribution?

As Barack Obama’s presidency was coming to a close, Jason Furman, then chairman of the president’s council of economic advisers, laid out the strides his administration had made to curb the nation’s exorbitant income inequality in “the largest investments in reducing inequality since the Great Society”.

Indeed, by the end of 2016, taxes and transfers cut the share of income accruing to the richest 1% of households by just over a fifth, according to estimates from the congressional budget office (CBO), more than under any government since at least Jimmy Carter’s. They raised the slice of income going to the poorest fifth from 3.9% to 7.9%, the highest share since at least 1979.

Eduardo Porter is a journalist focused on economics and politics. He writes the newsletter Being There on Substack

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