Income gap between rich and poor reaches record; US disparity greatest among Western societies

[marmar]

AP via HuffPost:




WASHINGTON — The income gap between the richest and poorest Americans grew last year to its widest amount on record as young adults and children in particular struggled to stay afloat in the recession.

The top-earning 20 percent of Americans – those making more than $100,000 each year – received 49.4 percent of all income generated in the U.S., compared with the 3.4 percent earned by those below the poverty line, according to newly released census figures. That ratio of 14.5-to-1 was an increase from 13.6 in 2008 and nearly double a low of 7.69 in 1968.

A different measure, the international Gini index, found U.S. income inequality at its highest level since the Census Bureau began tracking household income in 1967. The U.S. also has the greatest disparity among Western industrialized nations.

At the top, the wealthiest 5 percent of Americans, who earn more than $180,000, added slightly to their annual incomes last year, census data show. Families at the $50,000 median level slipped lower.

"Income inequality is rising, and if we took into account tax data, it would be even more," said Timothy Smeeding, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who specializes in poverty. "More than other countries, we have a very unequal income distribution where compensation goes to the top in a winner-takes-all economy." .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/28/income-gap-widens-census-_n_741386.html

[Fumesucker]

1. We're #1, we're #1.. USA.. USA.. USA..

/Teahadists

[raccoon]

2. C'mon, yall, let's get this on Greates! Rec'd. nt

[HughBeaumont]

3. One of America's greatest problems, and still far too many don't think it is.

Quite the contrary. Now we have a section of have nots attempting to defend giving them EVEN MORE.

Amazing.

[ixion]

4. The Feudal Dawn Approacheth

Be prepared.

[w8liftinglady]

5. ahhh-I see my next ltte-they'll know about it here..caring is a different story

[RainDog]

6. Our Tax Policies Need to be Overhauled

We can look at data and see that "trickle down" does not work, does not create jobs, does not stimulate the economy. We can look at the course of globalization and its impact upon the American worker that makes up the bulk of the middle class and know the current policies are not working.

Of course, the problem is that we have a nation who has been fed lies about taxation - lies that make people who earn a middle class wage think they are better off with tax policies as they are - but this, too, is a lie.

If our taxation rates and our govt. expenditures were done to benefit the majority of Americans, this nation would be stronger - such policies strengthen democracy.

[RaleighNCDUer]

20. Yesterday i heard someone on TV saying 'Kenney cut taxes'.

Said nothing about the fact that we'd have to RAISE taxes dramatically to get to the point to which Kennedy cut them. Top marginal rate of 70%? i only wish.

[kenny blankenship]

7. We've long been the most unequal of western demockracies, in the income distribution game

So we may have set a new record but it must be remembered that, since the demise of the British Empire approximately, our only competition in the inequality race has been us. We've just been topping ourselves, so to speak.

[Romulox]

8. Thank GAWD it passed! nt

[Fumesucker]

9. LOL... OMC certainly had a way with words, eh? n/t

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Fumesucker]

11. Not to mention you and I..

Wink, wink, nudge, nudge..

[Romulox]

14. "Every dog will have his day; mine will be in front of a jury."

-Adam Horovitz

[Fumesucker]

16. "I'll have what the gentleman on the floor is having"..

-WC Fields

[Romulox]

17. "If the river was whiskey, I was a diving duck!"

-traditional (?)

[Fumesucker]

18. I think Taj Mahal wrote that song..

But it's been covered by a lot of people..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZZwELray8k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuXcGHjBeac

[Greyhound]

12. As bad as it is, framing the disparity in terms of top fifth vs. bottom fifth conceals

the worse reality of the top .1% vs. the next 1.9% vs. everybody else.
:kick: & R

[RaleighNCDUer]

19. Yep. There's a lot of people, most, in fact, in that top 20% who are much closer to the

bottom 20% than they are to the top 2%.

[burnsei sensei]

13. This gap is dangerous and will destabilize American society. nt

[pampango]

15. US Gini index - 45. EU - 31, Canada - 32, and Australia - 30.5.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_equality

Most equitable Gini indexes belong to Sweden (23) and Norway (25). Aside from Third World countries most of which have terrible Gini figures, Argentina (45.7) and Mexico (48.2) are worse than the US. The closest major economies that are more equitable than the US is China (41.5) and Japan (38.1).

It should not be "rocket science" to figure out how to create a more equitable (and prosperous for most people) society. Just look at those countries who have reduced income inequality without hurting prosperity. Indeed their increased equity of incomes leads to increased prosperity.

[RaleighNCDUer]

21. Why's it so hard for the people at the top to figure out that if they want

to make money the people at the bottom have to have money to spend?