Viewing Posts tagged: inequality
Why Aren’t More Americans Fired Up About Inequality?
Just a year and half ago, Occupy Wall Street was all anyone could talk about. President Obama won a historic second term running on these themes and announced a new era of liberal governance in his recent Inaugural address. Yet, even with strong evidence out of Europe that austerity is failing, and public opinion polls in the U.S. showing clear opposition to rising inequality, the political class in Washington is collectively trying to convince itself that America can cut its way to prosperity and economic opportunity for the middle class.
What happened? There’s actually a straightforward reason.
CEO will receive a $44 million payout despite resigning on his first day
Nice work if you can get it.
By the numbers: Inequality in education
- 20.6: Percentage of African Americans, in March 2009, with at least a bachelor’s degree.
- 14: Percentage of Hispanics.
- 31.9: Percentage of whites.
- 20 percent less: Amount earned by African Americans with bachelor’s degrees versus whites with the same amount of education.
- 63: Percentage of all jobs in the next 10 years that will require at least some postsecondary education.
- 13: Percentage of African Americans getting higher education
How unequal we are: Top five facts about the top one percent
1. The top 1 percent of Americans owns 40 percent of the nation’s wealth
2. The top 1 percent of Americans take home 24 percent of national income
3. The top 1 percent of Americans own half of the country’s stocks, bonds, and mutual funds
4. The top 1 percent of Americans have only 5 percent of the nation’s personal debt
5. The top 1 percent are taking in more of the nation’s income than at any other time since the 1920s
