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throwmeaway820today at 4:03 PM1 replyview on HN

> A massive $79T has been transferred from bottom 90% to top 1% since the 1970s

This assertion is based on comparing reality with a counterfactual where income distributions remained static from 1975 to the present. Real median personal income roughly doubled over this time period.

The use of the word "transferred" seems a little intellectually dishonest here. The use of the counterfactual seems to suggest that income distribution has no relationship with growth in total income, and total income would have been exactly the same regardless of income distribution. I see no reason to assume that to be the case.


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yifanltoday at 4:21 PM

Well you have a data point of one, so I guess we live in the best of all possible outcomes?

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