Thursday, June 21, 2012

Inequality In America

Madame L,

I saw a bit of Rachel Maddow's show last night and saw a graph that showed that the idea of the 1% earning most of the money seems to be true. Could you find that graph and show it here?

Sincerely,

Shocked and Dismayed


Dear Dismayed,

Thanks for pointing Madame L to this graph. 

(Madame L isn't watching Rachel as much as she used to because she doesn't like being talked down to and lectured at and having every sentence/idea repeated three or four or five times. But she does like the ideas Rachel discusses, and so she's happy to read about them this way.

(Note to Madame L's Dear and Gentle Readers: You may also want to go to The Maddow Blog to catch up on ideas and graphics.)



And here's some of the accompanying information about the chart:

The chart "...comes as part of a nice collection of related infographics on the Mother Jones site.

"If you're a source material kind of person, the actual study is here (pdf) and includes another, longer chart, which one of the researchers, Dan Ariely, explains on his blog.

"Also, you may be aware, Timothy Noah at Slate wrote a huge series about income inequality. Here's his write-up of the study that produced this chart."

What does all this mean?  It means that we're even LESS EQUAL than most of us thought, and certainly than most of us want. 

What can we do about it? Madame L suggests you VOTE DEMOCRATIC this year and every year, and give monetary and volunteering support to your Democratic candidates. Also, give to charities and/or pay tithing to your church so that people with less wealth can have a chance to join the middle class.

Sincerely,

Madame L

2 comments:

AskTheGeologist said...

I spent a week in Stavanger Norway in 2001. It hit me right away that the place was different: no trailers, no mansions... the manager of the local bank drove a 10-yr-old black Mercedes. Everyone was courteous, there were no belligerent fat guys ranting on the local radio stations. Everyone also had health coverage; apparently no one goes to hospital Emergency Rooms to die in Norway.

It's nice to know that a place like this is possible. What's different? They have progressive tax rates - just like the US had until the 1980's. Then some corporations figured out how to buy television time and politicians to repeat mindless catch-phrases as solutions to complex problems. They used this to fool a lot of people and get special tax-rates for themselves.

What percentage of your income goes to taxes?
Obama's?
Romney's?

Feeling cheated yet? Feeling "Blue"?
~~~~~

AskTheGeologist said...

I'd be curious how many of your readers have gone and checked WHO is paying - and how MUCH - for their current (Democratic or Republican) Congressperson's re-election campaign?

I believe ours gets most of her campaign funding from corporations - that decline to be identified.

Ever wonder what a dead rat smells like?
~~~~~