The information age and the imagination age.  We came through the industrial revolution, now  living in an age of information.  What is the imagination age?  “Imagination age – hypothesized successor of the information age: a period in which creativity and imagination become the primary creators of economic value.”  OK, we are not there yet, but we are solidly in the information age.

I included the definition of Imagination age, should probably also put in a definition of the Information age.  “The Information Age is a historic period in the 21st century characterized by the rapid shift from traditional industry that the Industrial Revolution brought through industrialization, to an economy based on information technology.”  Let’s use some of our creativity and imagination as we review some information available to us.
The chart below is from a website of world data. https://ourworldindata.org , specifically the page https://ourworldindata.org/income-inequality

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so today is going to be long-winded. The words of this chart jumped off the page at me in glaring clarity.  The countries that reduced taxes on the rich in what is known as the “Trickle Down Theory”  have had significant portions of wealth transfer to the top 1%.  The following chart also from the world data website shows some of this correlation.  The page is https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/top-income-tax-rates-piketty

The United States and the United Kingdom dropped their top marginal tax rates by over half in the last 60 years.  Prior to those tax cuts the percentage of income going to the top 1% had been cut in half, since the tax cuts, the percentage going to the top 1% has doubled.  Appears to be simple math divide top marginal tax rate by two(2) equals amount going to the top 1% multiplied by two(2).  

A couple of Quotes from the verbiage associated with these pages strike me as being relevant.  First, “However, it would be wrong to think that increasing top income inequality is a universal phenomenon” This referencing the relationship between the first and second graph.  Secondly, “that the institutional and political frameworks in different countries also play a role in shaping inequality of incomes. This means that rising inequality is most likely not inevitable.” So, the problem appears to yet be solvable.
Back to using our imagination and creativity.  Assumption is the solution is possible.  If our equation was T/2=I*2, where T is top marginal tax rate and I is the percentage of income going to the top 1%, does T*2=I/2?  Or if we double the top marginal tax rate will we be able to reduce the direction of income going to the top 1% by half, thus allowing wealth to naturally spread more evenly to society.  Simple, but is it imaginative enough?  How about adding the “Wealth tax” to up the creativity.  We have a crisis, it is growing, we need a solution.