Heres a good overview of Economic Inequality in America from Wikipedia. Lots of statistics to back up points. Income inequality in the United States has grown significantly since the early 1970s, after several decades of stability, and has been the subject of study of many scholars and institutions. While inequality has risen among most developed countries, and especially English-speaking ones, it is highest in the United States. Income inequality (as measured by the Gini coefficient) is not uniform among the states: after-tax income inequality in 2009 was greatest in Texas and lowest in Maine. Most of the growth has been between the middle class and top earners, with the disparity becoming more extreme the further one goes up in the income distribution. A 2011 study by the CBO found that the top earning 1 percent of households increased their income by about 275% after federal taxes and income transfers over a period between 1979 and 2007, compared to a gain of just under 40% for the 60 percent in the middle of Americas income distribution. Other sources find that the trend has continued since then. In spite of this data, only 42% of Americans think inequality has increased in the past ten years. In 2012, the gap between the richest 1 percent and the remaining 99 percent was the widest its been since the 1920s. Incomes of the wealthiest 1 percent rose nearly 20 percent, whereas the income of the remaining 99 percent rose 1 percent in comparison. Yale professor and economist Robert J. Shiller, who was among three Americans who won the Nobel prize for economics in 2013, believes that rising economic inequality in the United States and other countries is the most important problem that we are facing now today. MoJo would say it was the most important problem in her day. And it keeps growing! jerryash
Posted on: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 01:45:59 +0000