Forum Post: Visualizing Income Inequality
Posted 12 years ago on Dec. 5, 2012, 11:23 p.m. EST by jrhirsch
(4714)
from Sun City, CA
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
The light blue block on the right side represents the share of income for the lower 90% of the population, or about 51.8% of all income. The other blocks on the left represent the various incomes of the other 10% of the population, or about 48.2% of all income. The top 1% are represented by the red, purple, orange, and yellow blocks who have a 20.9% share of all income.
The graph full size:
Where's the middle class? Reality shows that we really have a large lower class, a small middle class, and a tiny upper class. The classic bell curve with most of the people's income somewhere in the middle is a fallacy.
Thanks for these good visuals. They should have made the light blue box bigger to represent the true 90% though because I had to look at it for a while and it wasn't making sense until I read the explanation below. The income distribution graph with the houses is very good. What a mess we are in. This is really important to shine a light on because there is enough wealth in this country, it is just distributed unfairly.
Yeah the top graphic takes a while to understand. Notice the lower graphic income stops at $250,000. To show in entirety with the incomes of the ultra rich, it would need to extend twenty feet to the right.
It is unbelievable to me how the American people have their head in the sand. They have been so utterly brainwashed to revere and lionize the wealthy and wealth accumulation that they accept this (because, or course, they personally believe that they themselves have failed in life) instead of being rightfully outraged and realizing the levels of exploitation it took for the wealthy to accumulate said wealth.
people should revere accomplishment and the drive and amibition to succeed most of the time accomplishment results in monetary success.
Not accomplishment and drive and ambition that is phony, that has merely exploited. No. Sorry.
drive and ambiton are real human attributes, success is the result.
If the accomplishment only moves a few forward, leaving everyone else behind, it really hasn't accomplished much.
are you one of those that thinks that equal outcome should be guaranteed? sorry, thats not real life, , thats a socialist wet dream.
Actually I think people should be paid according to the benefit they provide, not how much they are able to take in excess of their benefit.
"excess"?
An employer who pays himself more, at the expense of his employees. For example, Walmart paying wages so low that many of it's workers qualify for food stamps.
Then the government has to pick up the tab by raising taxes and inefficiently redistributing that money to the underpaid employees.
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