4 Signs Occupy Wall Street Is Right

NEW YORK (MainStreet) -- The Occupy Wall Street protesters were first ignored by the media then maligned by certain outlets, but more recently a slew of reports and surveys have come out showing the movement may be on to something after all.

Occupy Wall Street: News Feed >>
The latest news, photos and videos from the 'Occupy Wall Street' protests.

As difficult as it may be to nail down exactly what the protesters stand for, much of their attention is devoted to the growing indebtedness of average households, along with the growing gap between the wealthy and the poor and ultimately the concern that the wealthy are exerting too much control over the political process. Several studies released this week alone have offered further evidence that these two problems are getting worse and, perhaps more importantly, that a large portion of the population is concerned about these issues.

The protesters on Occupy Wall Street may be on to something. Studies released this week show plenty of support for the cause.

Growing income inequality
Few reports in recent memory packed quite as much of a bang in so few words as the one earlier this week from the Congressional Budget Office.

The report shows that between 1979-2007, the super-rich - those in the top 1% of wage earners - saw their after-tax incomes nearly triple while those in the bottom 20% saw their wages remain relatively flat during that nearly 30-year period. If that wasn't infuriating enough, the CBO's report showed that the top 20% of wage earners saw their share of the nation's overall income increase by 10 percentage points during that period while the other 80% saw their share decline by two or three percentage points.

In just a few paragraphs, the CBO showed definitively that the rich are getting richer at the expense of everyone else.