Economic disparity/US

About

Economic disparity has become an issue of particular significance in the United States because of both its unusual severity since approximately 2005 and because of the fact that this continues despite continued economic growth in the US up to that time. (The US economy shrank a little in 2009, and the numbers are not yet available as to what effect this has had on economic disparity, though preliminary indications are that it has continued to worsen.)

Related Pages

• the one percent
• US economy

Links

Reference

• Wikipedia:
  • Household income in the United States
  • Income inequality in the United States

Demonstrations

• Wealth, shown to scale: interactive graphic showing the relative sizes of:
  • the US median household income of $63,179
  • $1 million
  • $1 billion
  • Jeff Bezos's wealth of $171 billion, along with some comparisons to more familiar quantities
  • The combined wealth of the 400 richest Americans ($3.5 trillion)

News

• 2014/05/15 [L..T] Hedge Fund Titans Hum a Happy Tune as They Target Public Schools «Hedge fund flacks hail this growing charter presence as a new window of opportunity for underprivileged kids in failing traditional schools. But many educators consider charters a diversion of badly needed public tax dollars into unaccountable private entities that cream off top students and refuse to take in the most challenged.»
• 2014/04/02 [L..T] The lie behind the shrinking labor force "The frightening truth is that our economy is failing to generate enough jobs. Of the jobs it does generate, too many pay stagnant or declining wages; fast-growth sectors like retail and food service are often at poverty scale. This despite the fact that we are supposedly recovering from the Great Recession, and U.S. stock markets have more than doubled since 2008."
• 2014/03/31 [L..T] Snapshots of inequality "...we also know that capitalism goes through periods in which economic inequality is more extreme and less so. So what kind of moment are we looking at now? What is the shape and contour of inequality in the U.S. today, six years after the recession that cratered in 2008?"
• 2014/02/19 [L..T] The Increasingly Unequal States of America
• 2013/01/01 [L..T] Fiscal cliff: America goes to the brink, but millions already fell into poverty Whatever the outcome of the political haggling, Congress has failed the 50 million Americans below the bread line.
• 2012/12/29 [L..T] Chris Hedges Explains How Entire Regions Within the US Are Treated Like Exploited Colonies a recent interview conducted with Chris Hedges surrounding his latest book Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt.
• 2011/09/04 [L..T] Voters' zero-sum faceoff with wealthy campaign donors "While most citizens gripe about politicians or "the system" for operating beyond their influence--do any voters understand the "how" and "why" when elite interests wield far greater force?"
• 2011/06/01 [L..T] Overworked America: 12 Charts That Will Make Your Blood Boil "Why "efficiency" and "productivity" really mean more profits for corporations and less sanity for you."
• 2010/09/09 [L..T] Why the Rich Need the Poor

to be filed

• 2013-07-10 CEO Pay Went Up 16% Last Year to $15 million -- How Much Did Your Pay Go Up?
• 2013-06-08 US Inequality Now Literally Off the Chart "The ILO report places the US Gini coefficient at 47.7, or almost half way toward the extreme where one rich household gets everything and everyone else gets nothing."
• 2007-08-01 How the U.S. Middle Class Became 10% Poorer: a change in measurement standards intended to make them more accurate, not a real change
• 2007-07-30 Is the US Heading for 'Developing Nations' Inequality Levels? by Paul Harris, The Observer UK
• 2007-03-26
  • Who's Gorging and Who's Getting Roasted in the Economic Barbecue? by James M. Cypher. Includes some recent history about Bush's tax breaks for the rich.
  • Bush Reorients Rhetoric, Acknowledges Income Gap