Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wealth disparity is a lot worse now than it was in 1986. So you have to take that into account also.
I think that's exactly what that shows. Real median income (2014 dollars) was 51,000 in 1986. Today, it's 53,000[0]. Wealth in the middle hasn't changed much, and all that GDP growth is being gobbled by the very top. [0] https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/MEHOINUSA672N
Do I make fantastic food for a very limited amount of people or do I cook for a lot of people? Turns out, that yacht chefs make a lot more money and it's a fun job where the hardest part is having to catch dinner first.
I didn't make the rules and I'm just living in the system. I really enjoy both, it doesn't make much difference to me if I cook for a few or a lot, but whether I do depends on wealth distribution. Most crew on yachts are very talented so an engineer would instead of being engineer for a limited amount of people would be an engineer in a power plant or as one engineer I worked with if he want back to his former engineering job, as a rocket scientist. The captain instead of managing an handful or crew would be managing scores or hundreds of people in upper management somewhere.
There is so much wasted energy and talent serving the wealthiest of the wealthiest. A lot of these people are still miserable with all their wealth because there is always a person with a bigger boat. At the end of the day, Paul Allen is making the wealthiest people on earth miserable.