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.
