“Ruminating on the ever-widening gap between America’s rich and poor, Federal Reserve Board Chairwoman Janet Yellen, in a widely reported speech on Friday, said: “I think it is appropriate to ask whether this trend is compatible with values rooted in our nation’s history, among them the high value Americans have traditionally placed on equality of opportunity.”

Great quote. Could have been said about the Gilded Age and the 1920s, when similar questions were raised and, incidentally, gave rise to a formulation called the “Great Gatsby curve,” the relationship between income inequality and low social mobility that recent economists came up with.

Only this time, it’s more so. “The past several decades have seen the most sustained rise in inequality since the 19th century after more than 40 years of narrowing inequality following the Great Depression,” Yellen said, citing the Federal Reserve’s triennial Survey of Consumer Finances, published last month, and other data.

*Read more here from Andrew S. Ross / SF Date: http://www.sfgate.com/business/bottomline/article/Janet-Yellen-s-stark-view-of-income-inequality-5835533.php