s to help maintain good economic development and stable society. The solutions presented are the reform of welfare system, progressive taxation and an increase in minimal wages.
             John Borland points out in "Fear of Falling" that the income gap has been steadily increasing since the postwar era. Currently the income inequality is at its highest level ever (1). US Bureau of Census indicates that an increase of 4.7 % of the total income allocated at the top 5 %, while the lowest quintile had a decrease of 1.2% of the total income held between 1970 and 1996 (473).
             Fig 1. U.S. Distribution of Income in 1997; rpt. in Rector and Hederman (2).
             It is evident from the above graph that the most current data shows that top quintile holds 49.4% of the total income in the U.S.A. while the bottom quintile holds only 3.6%. The graph is somewhat misleading because the bottom and the top quintiles do not really represent the 20% of the population. Through research Rector and Hederman in "Income Inequality: How Census Data Misrepresent income distribution" state that "Indeed, in reality the top Census "quintile" contains not 20 percent of the population but 24.3 percent, while the bottom quintile contains only 14.8 percent of the population" (4-5).
             The historical overview of income distribution from 1945 until today could be divided into three distinct periods: 1945-73, 1973-81, and 1981-89. The first period represents what is called the "good years", the great postwar boom generations. This period, from 1945-73 shows what real, broad-based prosperity looks like. One of the main reasons why income distribution decently increased for middle class during this period was the reconstruction of US after WW II, and rapid and constant economical growth. The employment rate reached peak during this
             ...