"When pundits and presidential candidates talk about inequality and the tiny sliver of the population whose fortunes have soared, they often drop names like Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Sheldon Adelson and Mark Zuckerberg. But those are just the most visible members of a larger but less-talked-about cadre of the big winners in today’s economy -- 250,000 Americans who populate the executive offices and managerial suites of major companies and financial institutions,and a smattering of top law firms, hedge funds and other elite aeries. These people — the top one-quarter of 1 percent of the country’s employed population — have enjoyed explosive gains in income and wealth in recent decades, even as salaries and wages stagnated for the typical American worker.