海角大神

After a New York luxury condominium developer won zoning approval to build a Dickensian 鈥減oor door鈥� entrance last week, pundits and politicians decried the move as the latest symbol of America's growing class divide.

The 33-story Upper West Side complex would provide a front entrance for waterfront condo buyers and a back door for street-side, rent-controlled tenants. To be eligible for an affordable apartment, a resident would need to earn less than 60 percent of the neighborhood鈥檚 median household income, stated the American Planning Association, or $51,140 a year, twice the federal poverty line for a family of four.

Stephen Colbert, host of Comedy Central's 'The Colbert Report,' satirized the proposal on Monday night, saying that the separate entrances are part of a larger trend.

Ironically, the 鈥榩oor door鈥� arose from progressive activists embracing the idea of inclusionary zoning, or giving developers the right to build more high-end housing on the condition that they include affordable units, says editor of the Left Business Observer, Doug Henwood.

鈥淚t鈥檚 supposed to be some sort of measure to flatten the inequality in housing availability in the city,鈥� said Mr. Henwood, adding 鈥渋f this model is followed elsewhere, it looks like a grotesque visible marker of increasing class division.

The segregated entrance may be just the latest example of the growing gap between the rich and poor in the United States. Income inequality has risen steadily since the 1970s, approaching levels not seen since before the Great Depression, according to Emmanuel Saez, professor of economics at UC-Berkeley.

In the last era with 鈥榩oor doors鈥� 鈥� the Gilded Age in 1928 鈥� the wealthiest 1 percent of households made 23.9 percent of pretax income, with the bottom 90 percent taking home 50.7 percent, stated the Pew Research Center. By the middle of World War II that gap had narrowed, with the rich receiving 11.3 percent while the poorer 90 percent earned 67.5 percent.

Starting in the 1970s, higher-income brackets earned more of the nation鈥檚 income while less affluent Americans took home less of the economic pie 鈥� in 2012, the top 1 percent made 22.5 percent, while the bottom received 49.6 percent of the nation鈥檚 pretax income.

While Stephan Colbert's 'poor door' rant raises the profile of America's income inequality gap, many dispute why it鈥檚 happening. Liberal observers blame globalization and government deregulation while conservatives point to technological innovation and rewarding entrepreneurial talent.

Some of the world's top capitalists have weighed in on the issue, questioning whether the gap is healthy for the US economy. As 海角大神 recently reported:

Of course, New York City has long had another symbol of wealth: the doorman. What Colbert didn't mention was whether the 'poor door' residents of the Upper West Side complex would get their own doorman or not.