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Kevin Drum is right: although Jon Chiat's entire piece is an absolute must read, this section is hands down the most important to commit to memory:

Over the last quarter century, the portion of the national income accruing to the richest 1 percent of Americans has doubled. The share going to the richest one-tenth of 1 percent has tripled, and the share going to the richest one-hundredth of 1 percent has quadrupled.

This didn't happen by accident. It was the deliberate result of a series of deliberate policy choices, many of which were framed by Republicans as efforts to help the "middle class."

The economic story of the US in the twentieth century is the story of the development and growth of the middle class. Most people don't realize it today, but it didn't happen by accident. In many, many ways the explosion in the size of the middle class in the middle of the twentieth century came as a direct result of government action. The GI Bill, the mortgage interest deduction, low cost student loan programs, the federally assisted development of the Southwest, the development of a vast networks of highways and biways.... I could go on and on.

But beginning in the 1980's, a deliberate choice was made to roll back many of the policies that had fostered this growth. And sure, some of them were necessary, but in the last decade or so things have very clearly gone to far.

Kevin is right. Aside from the obvious fact that money attracts money, there's no legitimate explanation for why the top .01% should so be able to so dramatically outpace the rest of society - even the .09% just behind them! This isn't about merit, nor skills, nor education, nor any of the other explanations we like to use when describing how people obtain the American Dream. This is about power, and money, and yes, public policy.

Fortunately, people are finally starting to take notice. Over the past few decades, in a number of very serious but often overlooked ways, our economy has been dramatically transformed. How? Jacob Hacker, a rising polisci star, has a new book that lays the case out nicely. If you have the time, dig in. If not, his op-ed in today's WaPo makes a great alternative.

Politicians may not yet have figured out what's going on, but policy-makers and political scientists are beginning to. Eventually one of the two parties will, too. And whichever one gets there first...

Update: More from Ezra Klein.

Update II: And even more from Matthew Yglesias, Ezra Klein, Mark Schmitt, and Jacob Hacker himself over at American Prospect.