金融危机过后，美国有钱人更有钱了

    最近在美国，上至决策层，下至快餐店员工都在要求华盛顿上调最低工资。这个伤脑筋的话题催生了无数支持和反对的争论。但一项最新研究显示，目前只有最富有的美国人从这场经济大衰退中恢复了过来，这个发现应能让反对者重新考虑上调最低工资的问题。

    收入不均是美国几十年的顽疾，但在最近这场经济衰退后，贫富差距进一步拉大。房价和股价上涨可能令最富有的美国人获益，而最贫困的人被落在了后边：加州大学伯克利分校（University of California Berkeley）经济学家伊曼纽尔•塞斯和托马斯•皮凯蒂进行的一项最新研究显示，2009年至2012年，收入最高的1%人群收入增长了31.4%，余下99%人群的收入仅增长了微不足道的0.4%。

    这两位经济学家指出，这意味着收入最高的1%人群拿走了所有美国人收入总额的1/5以上，达到1913年现代联邦所得税开征以来的最高水平之一。不仅如此，收入最高1%人群的收入已接近全面恢复，而剩下99%人群的收入基本上刚刚开始恢复。

    上调最低工资不能弥合这一差距，但肯定会在一定程度上缓解这个问题。遗憾的是，上调最低工资的提案目前没有取得任何进展，阻力不小。上个月，美国快餐业工人在全美60个城市罢工一天，要求将最低工资提高到每小时15美元。这将是当前最低工资每小时7.25美元的两倍还多，也高于奥巴马总统今年2月在国情咨文中提议的每小时9美元。

    这不只是工人希望上调工资（我们所有人都想上调，不是吗？）的问题，同时也是收入分化加剧症状的表现。不难想到反对上调最低工资的理由：上调将使得公司的用人成本上升；事实上提高失业率，因为高工资将鼓励更多的人求职；它不会对更宏观层面的经济起到什么作用，因为拿最低工资的人并不多。

    这些说法也许有道理，也许没道理，但白宫已表示，将最低工资提高到9美元将增加约1,500万低收入工人的工资。这当然比不上收入最高1%人群最近在股市和房市中取得的收益，但正如白宫所讲，将最低工资上调1.75美元足以弥补自1980年以来新增收入差距的10-20%。

    这点钱弥合不了贫富差距，但至少能帮助最贫困的人稍许赶上些。（财富中文网）  

    Lately everyone from policymakers to fast-food workers have urged Washington to raise the minimum wage. It's a thorny topic that's spawned countless arguments both for and against an increase, but a new study suggesting that only the richest Americans are recovering from the Great Recession should make opponents rethink a minimum wage hike.

    Income inequality has been a problem for decades, but the gap between the haves and have-nots has worsened in the years following the recession. The rise in home and stock prices may be benefitting the richest Americans, but the poorest are being left behind: From 2009 to 2012, the top 1% incomes grew by 31.4% while the bottom 99% incomes grew a mere 0.4%, according to an updated study by University of California Berkeley economists Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty.

    That means the top 1% took more than one-fifth of the income earned by Americans -- one of the highest levels since 1913 when the modern federal income tax started, the economists note. More than that, the top 1% incomes are close to full recovery while the bottom 99% incomes have barely started to recover.

    Raising the minimum wage won't close the gap, but it could certainly ease it. Sadly proposals haven't gone anywhere and face stiff opposition. Last month, fast-food workers staged a one-day strike in 60 U.S. cities to demand a minimum wage of $15 an hour, more than double the current minimum of $7.25 and more than the $9 an hour President Obama proposed in February during his State of the Union address.

    These aren't just workers looking for a raise (aren't we all), but symptoms of bigger income disparity problems. It's easy to argue against raising the minimum wage: that an increase would make hiring more expensive for companies; that it would actually raise the unemployment rate, since higher wages would encourage more people to apply for jobs; that it wouldn't help the broader economy because only a few workers actually earned the minimum wage.

    That may or may not be so, but the White House has said raising the minimum wage to $9 would boost wages for about 15 million low-income workers. This of course wouldn't equal to gains the top 1% of earners have enjoyed recently from the stock market and home prices, but as the White House has said, a $1.75 increase in the minimum wage would be enough to offset roughly 10% to 20% of the increase in income inequality since 1980.

    That won't close the gap between rich and poor, but it would at least help the very poor play catch-up.