Sam Pizzigati: Inside Our Profoundly Unequal "New Normal"

Wealth's current tilt to the top sometimes seems almost eternal. But can our economy "self-correct"? A provocative new paper out of the developed world's official research agency contemplates our tomorrow.

The Commerce Department released some revised figures on America’s economy last week. Previous numbers, Commerce researchers noted, had overestimated the share of the nation’s income going to workers and underestimated the share going to America’s asset-rich.

“Everything’s coming up roses for people who own a chunk of American capital,” observed Brookings Institution economist Gary Burtless after the new stats emerged. “What we’ve seen in the economic recovery is inequality on steroids. The market is giving wealthy people a very good run.”