The United States Has The Worst Income Inequality In The OECD

The United States Has The Worst Income Inequality In The OECD

Last week, my colleague Zaid Jilani pointed out that America’s income inequality is worse than that in places like Pakistan and Ethoipia and roughly equivalent to that in Uganda and the Ivory Coast. Before its revolution, Egypt’s income inequality — which played a role in sparking the uprising against former President Mubarak’s regime — was actually better than that in the U.S.

Income inequality in the U.S. is currently the worst its been since the 1920s. Just the richest 400 Americans hold more wealth than the bottom 50 percent of Americans combined, and the richest 10 percent of Americans control two-thirds of the country’s net worth. Currently, the top one percent of households make nearly 25 percent of the total income in the country, after they made less than 10 percent in the 1970s. Between 1980 and 2005, “more than 80 percent of total increase in Americans’ income went to the top 1 percent.”

Real nice.

One of the manifestations of this inequality is hedge fund managers making as much in two minutes as Navy SEALs make in a year.

Even better. Navy Seals have to train and be at the top of their form all the time... but those hedge fund managers just have to trade inside information or buy US treasuries... Or just compare the insane salaries the sports players make every year or crappy movie directors like Michael Bay making hundreds of million every time he makes a Transformer movie... (sorry but I hate Michael Bay )

The only thing I can think of.....to solve the problem

Just the richest 400 Americans hold more wealth than the bottom 50 percent of Americans combined, and the richest 10 percent of Americans control two-thirds of the country’s net worth

This sentence leaves me speechless, yet only a few cry murder. How can we possibly live in a society where .0000000001 of the population owns more than 150,000,000 people combined?

reply to post by Chewingonmushrooms

How can we possibly live in a society where .0000000001 of the population owns more than 150,000,000 people combined?

Easy! You tell people since they are born that America is the land of opportunity and tell them that anyone can get rich! Then most people will believe this lie till they die and happily get shafted all day long while they struggle every day of the lives while the rich get richer...

America, same old same old story of the world. America is not different...

It's a shame really, most people are completely brainwashed to believe that our economic system somehow benefits the majority when quite the opposite is true. Capitalism really needs to die and soon.

reply to post by Chewingonmushrooms


I would not say Capitalism needs to die. What you see in the US is corporatism, and this is different from Capitalism.

reply to post by Chewingonmushrooms

Capitalism really needs to die and soon.

Problem is not capitalism, it's a fascist economy... where the government is run by corporations... just like Nazi Germany was.

Isn't corporatism just capitalism gone haywire? Isn't capitalism based on acquiring capital, which is based on producing goods? Aren't goods made of resources that are basically running out? Lets say we get back to true capitalism (whatever that means), how can we sustain our consumption of resources and fuel to continue our civilization? How do we have true capitalism when we don't even have true currency? How do you base a society on money that isn't clearly defined, and on a growth platform that's impossible to sustain?