"When the Democrats are in, money flows from top to bottom. When Republicans are in, money flows from bottom to top."

Which is my little mantra for the difference between the respective economic impacts of whichever party happens to be running things.

This little chart comes from a new book by Larry Bartels titled Unequal Democracy.  Says Dani Rodrick:

When a Republican president is in power, people at the top of the income distribution experience much larger real income gains than those at the bottom--a difference of 1.5 percent per year going from the bottom to the top quintile in the income distribution. The situation is reversed when a Democrat is in power: those who benefit the most are the lower income groups. If you are in the bottom quintile, the difference between having a Democratic or a Republican president in office is an income gain (or loss) of more than 2 percent per year! Strikingly, compared to Republicans, Democratic presidents generate higher income gains for all income groups (although the difference is statistically significant only for lower income groups).