Perspective on Income Inequality

I'm one of those bleeding-heart liberals who thinks that we should be hunting down hedge-fund managers, liquidating their assets and passing out the windfall to the poor and needy in this country. Income inequality is bad and getting worse, and it just seems immoral for some to have 6 houses and multiple yachts, while others wake up each morning not knowing how they will feed their children.

But with that half-cocked rant out of the way, I think it's important to keep some perspective about just how rich the USA is compared to the rest of the world. This chart will help.



What is shows is that the poorest Americans are still much better off than the vast majority of people in Brazil, China and India. Spare a thought for the less fortunate, but don't restrict your concern only to fellow Americans.

From the Econonmix blog at the New York Times