RichmondPhilsFan wrote:Is that per month? Per year? Per day?

Justice Kennedy’s question seemed in keeping with the court’s general skepticism about Coca-Cola’s arguments that it could not be sued by a rival for false advertising over the label.

The product in question, sold under Coca-Cola’s Minute Maid brand, is made almost entirely from apple and grape juice. But it is called “Pomegranate Blueberry,” followed in smaller type by the words “Flavored Blend of 5 Juices.”
The label shows a pomegranate and blueberries in front of an apple and grapes. The juices are dyed dark purple.

But the beverage contains no more than trace amounts of the two featured juices. It is 0.3 percent pomegranate juice and 0.2 percent blueberry juice. Pom Wonderful, which sells pomegranate juice, is suing for false advertising.
Kathleen M. Sullivan, a lawyer for Coca-Cola, said consumers were not misled.

“We don’t think that consumers are quite as unintelligent as Pom must think they are,” she said. “They know when something is a flavored blend of five juices and the nonpredominant juices are just a flavor.”

Justice Kennedy frowned. “Don’t make me feel bad,” he said, “because I thought that this was pomegranate juice.”

…Thomas A. Hirschl of Cornell and I looked at 44 years of longitudinal data regarding individuals from ages 25 to 60 to see what percentage of the American population would experience these different levels of affluence during their lives. The results were striking.

It turns out that 12 percent of the population will find themselves in the top 1 percent of the income distribution for at least one year. What’s more, 39 percent of Americans will spend a year in the top 5 percent of the income distribution, 56 percent will find themselves in the top 10 percent, and a whopping 73 percent will spend a year in the top 20 percent of the income distribution.

Werthless wrote:I would have thought that many fewer than 73% were at one time in the top quintile.

I'll leave aside your comment about changes to extremities over time. That's between you and your extremity.

TenuredVulture wrote:Also, income is not wealth, and wealth matters at least as much as income if not more. It would be interesting to compare the two, given that there are surely lots of retirees with little income but lots of wealth.

drsmooth wrote:

Werthless wrote:I would have thought that many fewer than 73% were at one time in the top quintile.

see, here's where we agree, and where we would then squabble over the extent to which we'd feel the percentage was lower. My feeling too is it's plenty lower.

My other feeling is that the article has been sitting on a shelf whilst the editors and/or authors waited for the Piketty publicity pot to boil. I'm on the fence about plunking down $20 for the kindle edition when I KNOW the damn thing will disappoint me (I already cringe every time I see some remark about his "international wealth tax prescription", and I haven't even read his side of that story)

I'll leave aside your comment about changes to extremities over time. That's between you and your extremity.

That's extremely discrete of you, thanks

Werthless wrote:Just check it out from a library.

jerseyhoya wrote:Supreme Court upholds Michigan’s ban on racial preferences in university admissions - Yay

drsmooth wrote:I don't read Salon, don't know who this guy is, but pretty funny (& well-aimed) take on NYTimes op-ed columnists

dajafi wrote:I was pleasantly surprised by his take on Douthat, which is pretty much exactly mine: he's a smart and earnest guy who engages liberal arguments thoughtfully, but who's cringeworthy when he tries to find rational grounds for the homophobic and misogynistic views he's institutionally obligated to support.