Wednesday, October 5, 2011

What You Need To Know About The Top 1%

Income inequality in the U.S. is higher than at any other time since the Great Depression, and the U.S. is currently more unequal than countries like the Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, and Pakistan. Though Republicans dismiss concerns over the gap as “class warfare,” the ever-increasing level of disparity has tangible consequences, leading to poor work performance and a greater gap in life expectancy.

And now, according to a new Finance & Development study, income inequality also “kills economic growth.” Looking at how to sustain economic growth, the research found that “making an economy’s income distribution 10 percent more equitable prolongs its typical growth spell by 50 percent.”

Mother Jones’ Josh Harkinson noted that this lesson is nothing new, pointing to Depression-era Federal Reserve Chairman Marriner Eccles, who “blamed the Great Crash on the nation’s wealth gap.”

More on this topic in another Jobsanger post that's worth taking the time to read:
Are you one of those people who thinks "wealth redistribution" is a dirty term, and something we should never do in this country? If so, then you don't understand much about economics in the United States (and elsewhere). The truth is that wealth redistribution is going on all the time in every country, and that includes the United States.

The problem with the wealth redistribution that is happening now in the U.S. is that the wealth is being redistributed from the vast majority of Americans to the richest Americans -- especially the top 1%. This has created a wealth and income inequality not seen in this country since the 1920s -- before the Great Depression. And that vast equality was the major cause of both the Great Depression and our current Great Recession.

Here are some facts you need to know about the richest 1% of Americans:

Read the full Jobsanger post...

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