It's the Inequality, Stupid

[alkemical]

It's the Inequality, Stupid (http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/income-inequality-in-america-chart-graph#)

Eleven charts that explain everything that's wrong with America.

A huge share of the nation's economic growth over the past 30 years has gone to the top one-hundredth of one percent, who now make an average of $27 million per household. The average income for the bottom 90 percent of us? $31,244.

http://assets.motherjones.com/politics/2011/inequality-page25_1.png

http://assets.motherjones.com/politics/2011/inequality-page25_therichest280.png

Note: The 2007 data (the most current) doesn't reflect the impact of the housing market crash. In 2007, the bottom 60% of Americans had 65% of their net worth tied up in their homes. The top 1%, in contrast, had just 10%. The housing crisis has no doubt further swelled the share of total net worth held by the superrich.


All
The superrich have grabbed the bulk of the past three decades' gains.

http://assets.motherjones.com/politics/2011/inequality-p25_averagehouseholdincom.png

A Harvard business prof and a behavioral economist recently asked more than 5,000 Americans how they thought wealth is distributed in the United States. Most thought that it’s more balanced than it actually is. Asked to choose their ideal distribution of wealth, 92% picked one that was even more equitable.

http://assets.motherjones.com/politics/2011/inequality-page25_actualdistribwithlegend.png

Why Washington is closer to Wall Street than Main Street.

http://assets.motherjones.com/politics/2011/inequality_mediannetworth_1.png

EST Net worth

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) $451.1 million
Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) $435.4 million
Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) $366.2 million
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) $294.9 million
Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) $285.1 million
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) $283.1 million
Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.) $231.2 million
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) $201.5 million
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) $136.2 million
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) $108.1 million


Est Combined net worth: $ 2.8B

http://assets.motherjones.com/politics/2011/inequality-who%27swinning_3.png

http://assets.motherjones.com/politics/2011/inequality-taxrate_3.png

https://motherjones.com/files/images/lossgain_0.jpg

Sources

Income distribution: Emmanuel Saez (PDF)

Net worth: Edward Wolff (PDF)

Household income/income share: Congressional Budget Office

Real vs. desired distribution of wealth: Michael I. Norton and Dan Ariely (PDF)

Net worth of Americans vs. Congress: Federal Reserve (average); Center for Responsive Politics (Congress)

Your chances of being a millionaire: Calculation based on data from Wolff (PDF); US Census (household and population data)

Member of Congress' chances: Center for Responsive Politics

Wealthiest members of Congress: Center for Responsive Politics

Tax cut votes: New York Times (Senate; House)

Wall street profits, 2007-2009: New York State Comptroller (PDF)

Unemployment rate, 2007-2009: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Home equity, 2007-2009: Federal Reserve, Flow of Funds data, 1995-2004 and 2005-2009 (PDFs)

CEO vs. worker pay: Economic Policy Institute

Historic tax rates: Calculations based on data from The Tax Foundation

Federal tax revenue: Joint Committee on Taxation (PDF)

Read also: Kevin Drum on the decline of Big Labor, the rise of Big Business, and why the Obama era fizzled so soon.

More Mother Jones charty goodness: How the rich get richer; how the poor get poorer; who owns Congress?

Dave Gilson is a senior editor at Mother Jones. For more of his stories, click here. Get Dave Gilson's RSS feed.

[Smiling Assassin27]

Must be true since you said it is. I'm sold.

[alkemical]

Must be true since you said it is. I'm sold.

I didn't say it, but ok. It seems to work for everyone else here. Every one here knows EVERYTHING and can't discuss anything.

[Smiling Assassin27]

I didn't say it, but ok. It seems to work for everyone else here. Every one here knows EVERYTHING and can't discuss anything.

Pretty colors and arrow pointing up and down are nebulous. It'd be like Rohirrim posting a picture of JFK in a tiger suit and posting: 'Discuss'.


Do you plan on interpreting the data you posted at any particular time? You chose to use words like 'inequality' but don't really argue for or against it, let alone define it. Just sayin'.

[TonyR]

Clearly the solution is to reduce taxation on the affluent. That will solve everything.

[alkemical]

Pretty colors and arrow pointing up and down are nebulous. It'd be like Rohirrim posting a picture of JFK in a tiger suit and posting: 'Discuss'.


Do you plan on interpreting the data you posted at any particular time? You chose to use words like 'inequality' but don't really argue for or against it, let alone define it. Just sayin'.

I didn't chose the words dumbass.

[bronclvr]

Well, sounds like all a person needs to do is become rich-so, each one of us needs to work a 120 hour Week, put everything we own on the line, don't sleep much, have a good business plan, pay good Employees (and give them full Benefits) and pray-simple! The money will come rolling in in no time-

If we somehow think we are going to get the rich to pay our way, we all sadly mistaken, so get to work!

[Rohirrim]

Pretty colors and arrow pointing up and down are nebulous. It'd be like Rohirrim posting a picture of JFK in a tiger suit and posting: 'Discuss'.


Do you plan on interpreting the data you posted at any particular time? You chose to use words like 'inequality' but don't really argue for or against it, let alone define it. Just sayin'.

This post is the equivalent of a toddler sitting down and covering his ears whilst screaming in order to ignore facts he doesn't want to deal with.

[Rohirrim]

Well, sounds like all a person needs to do is become rich-so, each one of us needs to work a 120 hour Week, put everything we own on the line, don't sleep much, have a good business plan, pay good Employees (and give them full Benefits) and pray-simple! The money will come rolling in in no time-

If we somehow think we are going to get the rich to pay our way, we all sadly mistaken, so get to work!

That was Henry Ford's logic during the Depression. He said the unemployed only had themselves to blame for not working hard enough. And then when they tried to unionize, he had his thugs machine gun them down. Similar philosophies.

[Meck77]

I don't have the numbers but is it safe to say that the poor generally have more children? Consider the fact it costs 225k to raise a child to maturity. http://blogs.wsj.com/juggle/2010/06/10/cost-of-raising-a-child-ticks-up/

I don't dispute the fact there is serious inequity but I get sick and tired of people complaining they don't have any money yet they have 4 kids.

[Bronco Yoda]

Give the super rich more tax breaks and 'eliminate' all those filthy blue collar breeders! Thats the ticket...

[chadta]

I don't dispute the fact there is serious inequity but I get sick and tired of people complaining they don't have any money yet they have 4 kids.

You an me both. Im gonna be attacked for this, but cant we just sterilize people at birth, than later in life when things are sorted give them the antidote to have kids ?

I for the life of me cant figure out why we reward such behavior with higher welfare rates depending on how many kids you have, and i know personally people who have had more kids just to get the higher rates.

[bronclvr]

You an me both. Im gonna be attacked for this, but cant we just sterilize people at birth, than later in life when things are sorted give them the antidote to have kids ?

wait a minute, let me get my popcorn.










Okay, I'm ready-carry on!

[alkemical]

You an me both. Im gonna be attacked for this, but cant we just sterilize people at birth, than later in life when things are sorted give them the antidote to have kids ?

I for the life of me cant figure out why we reward such behavior with higher welfare rates depending on how many kids you have, and i know personally people who have had more kids just to get the higher rates.

We are entitlement country:

Welfare for big biz, welfare for poor, subsidies for the middle class.

We want to bitch about everyone else getting subsidies, but don't want ours cut.

[TonyR]

I don't have the numbers but is it safe to say that the poor generally have more children? Consider the fact it costs 225k to raise a child to maturity. http://blogs.wsj.com/juggle/2010/06/10/cost-of-raising-a-child-ticks-up/

I don't dispute the fact there is serious inequity but I get sick and tired of people complaining they don't have any money yet they have 4 kids.


http://www.wwtdd.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/kanye_west_twitter.jpg

[Requiem]

That is crazzzzzzzzy!

[That One Guy]

All you can do is look out for yourself, these days. If things get too bad, pack your **** and move on. We all know where the interests of this country lie and where they're headed. In the mean time, don't complain about being broke and have more kids. Don't complain about the super rich while shopping at wal-mart. In the current era of everything being chained though, it's not really reasonable to expect any sort of convenience while trying to stick to your principles of the matter. It's the decisions we all have to make.

[NUB]

Pretty colors and arrow pointing up and down are nebulous. It'd be like Rohirrim posting a picture of JFK in a tiger suit and posting: 'Discuss'.


Do you plan on interpreting the data you posted at any particular time? You chose to use words like 'inequality' but don't really argue for or against it, let alone define it. Just sayin'.

What? The post took a stand on the subject literally in the first sentence which states, "Eleven charts that explain everything that's wrong with America." Given the nature of the post it really should not take a genius to infer the viewpoint being offered. You could eliminate that first sentence and I would assume that the vast majority still would not be as lost as you are with it.

[chadta]

Don't complain about the super rich while shopping at wal-mart.

Its too late for that, even the local stores now sell the same made in China crap because all the local suppliers went out of business.

[chadta]

wait a minute, let me get my popcorn.










Okay, I'm ready-carry on!


that went better than i thought it would

[That One Guy]

Its too late for that, even the local stores now sell the same made in China crap because all the local suppliers went out of business.

Well we forced that by shopping at Wal-mart to start with. The question now just becomes whether we let that money go to a bigger bank account for the Waltons or for someone else.