Gross Imbalance of Wealth in Us
- Submitted by: richnut
- Views: 659
- Category: Politics: Economics
- Date Submitted: 03/11/2011 01:55 PM
- Pages: 2
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All of the data covering the distribution of wealth in the US is consistent with the fact that there is a gross imbalance in favor of the Rich and it is growing worse. For instance:
1. The top 1% of the people own 35% of the total wealth in the US and the top 20% of the people own essentially everything (85%).
2. The bottom 40% of the people own essentially nothing (less than 1%).
3. Since about 1980, average wages adjusted for inflation have gone down 10%. Workers make less today than they did 30 years ago, even though productivity has increased 60 to 80% over this period.
4. The average pay of heads of the big corporations (Chief Executive Officers - CEOs) was 30 times the average workers pay in 1980 and is now 400 times (has gone up to 13 times what it was).
These are just examples of the severity of this problem of extreme unfairness in who owns the wealth in the US. The data is clear and overwhelming.
Yet, when I ask people what they think the distribution of wealth is, not 1 in a 100 comes even close to the actual numbers -- they always guess that it is much more evenly distributed than it is. People just are not aware. They are so poorly informed that one has to wonder if they are not being purposely misled?
Most analyses of this problem lead to the root cause being policies that the Federal Government either does enact that it shouldn’t or does not enact that it should.
We live in a democracy where not just the top 1% of the people vote. If the public at large were aware of this ongoing injustice and unfairness which is in effect stealing their jobs and money, they would soon vote these corrupt politicians out of office.
So, the question is:
How can the American people at large be made fully aware of the current gross imbalance of wealth in favor of the Very Rich?
1. The top 1% of the people own 35% of the total wealth in the US and the top 20% of the people own essentially everything (85%).
2. The bottom 40% of the people own essentially nothing (less than 1%).
3. Since about 1980, average wages adjusted for inflation have gone down 10%. Workers make less today than they did 30 years ago, even though productivity has increased 60 to 80% over this period.
4. The average pay of heads of the big corporations (Chief Executive Officers - CEOs) was 30 times the average workers pay in 1980 and is now 400 times (has gone up to 13 times what it was).
These are just examples of the severity of this problem of extreme unfairness in who owns the wealth in the US. The data is clear and overwhelming.
Yet, when I ask people what they think the distribution of wealth is, not 1 in a 100 comes even close to the actual numbers -- they always guess that it is much more evenly distributed than it is. People just are not aware. They are so poorly informed that one has to wonder if they are not being purposely misled?
Most analyses of this problem lead to the root cause being policies that the Federal Government either does enact that it shouldn’t or does not enact that it should.
We live in a democracy where not just the top 1% of the people vote. If the public at large were aware of this ongoing injustice and unfairness which is in effect stealing their jobs and money, they would soon vote these corrupt politicians out of office.
So, the question is:
How can the American people at large be made fully aware of the current gross imbalance of wealth in favor of the Very Rich?