Thursday, March 3, 2011

Inequality in the United States

Not many people know, realize, or acknowledge that the gap between the rich and the poor in the US has been growing alarmingly fast over the past 50 or so years. Sure, we've all heard the news about the sorry state of the job market while Wall Street CEOs give each other hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses, but most of us never surmised exactly how dark the future looked for us and our children.

Here's a graph showing exactly how big that gap has grown:


And here's how that compares to how Americans want it to be:

Don't get me wrong, an essential part of capitalism involves the rich being insanely wealthy while the rest remain destitute, but the degree to which America is now experiencing that is now nearly unprecedented.
Back in 2008, the US passed a .45 on the Gini Ratio, the ratio which measures the concentration of wealth. If a nation were to reach a Gini ratio of exactly 1, the wealth of that nation would lie solely in the hands of a single individual. As it stands, America's coefficient is surpassed only by third-world countries.

Now, one in five Americans shows an inability to afford food: http://frac.org/nearly-one-in-five-americans-report-inability-to-afford-enough-food/

So what can you do with this knowledge? Simply have it, and know it, and act upon it as you see fit. For a brighter future.

13 comments:

  1. Capitalism is doomed to fail, we created a machine that will run out of fuel in the next 50 years

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  2. Much of the lower middle class and middle class have this idea instilled in them through modern comercialization that material possesions = happiness. Then through the use of credit they acquire these possesions and are then sat with the interest on these items for a number of years. While if they did not try and live beyond their own means of personal income the ratio would not be as large as it is now. Lower-Middle class here and no debt :feelsgoodman.jpg:

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  3. @Sidewayz College student here and lots of debt. feelsbadman. How about the many millions who don't even have enough to feed themselves? That's hardy a criticism of want of material possession, it's a criticism of the "let them eat cake" mentality.

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  4. Also a full time college student. From my experince the ones getting food stamps or as of now EBT cards that work like food stamps they still seem to have the spare money to buy new Nike's and Rims for their rides.

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  5. How many destitute people have you known? How many homeless people have you met? I've had friends who have had to move in with distant relatives and who have had to take out tens of thousands worth of loans to attend college and pursue their dreams each year. People who have not spent an unnecessary penny since their birth.

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  6. the idea that everyone "needs" to attend college is a bit overdone. People have been conditioned since elementry school to the idea that you have to go to college. My parents neither went to college and nor did any of my aunts and uncles on my father's side of the family. Yet All my uncles work in some form of trade with my father running his own appliance bussiness hes been doing since the end of high school.

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  7. No, one doesn't technically need college to survive. Only to be certified in the career of their choosing, be it psychology or political science. Also, college graduates are, on average, more likely to move up the societal ladder.

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  8. thank god attending university is free here :o

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  9. Good stuff Jim.
    Fun Fact
    Of people born into the poorest 20 percent of the population...
    42% will stay there
    25% will move up to the next 20%
    15% will end up in the middle class
    11% will end up in the next higher 20%
    7% will end up in the top 20%

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  10. given the graphs. it shows just how little of a number control our world.

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  11. For the record, new inventions such as the internet have increased happiness and life satisfaction while wealth inequality has gotten worse. The more into the future we go, the less important money can be.

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  12. very depressing. I have this argument with my parents all the time how it is harder now that inflation has got so out of hand forcing 2 income families and stuff. Even though my dad made $3 an hour a pop was only .05

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  13. Wow, that must be even worst in my country

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