6 Shocking Things You Need To Know About Wealth Inequality In The USA

The modern American economy is a fascinating thing to study. Over the past 70 years a relatively young nation was able to become the global superpower, politically and economically. The States is the place of birth for so many of the new technologies and businesses that have revolutionised the world. It's seen as the 'Land of Opportunity', where anyone can make a success of themselves if they have the drive. But in recent years of social and economic turmoil some serious issues have been brought to the world's attention about whether every American citizen really is benefiting from their nation's global powerhouse status.

1. CEO Well They're Paid

blogger.com / Via businessinsider.com

Contrary to the terrible attempt at wordplay above, CEO's pay is no laughing matter. CEO salaries tripled between 1990 and 2005- while the minimum wage dropped, and the wage of the average production worker increased by just 4%.

2. The GINI is Out of the Bottle

The GINI Coefficient is currently the most reputable measure of a nation's economic inequality. Credit Suisse's account of this uses 100 to describe total inequality, and 0 total equality.

The USA's 85.1% GINI score ranks it more unequal than much of Europe, but more surprisingly countries like China and India that are still in the process of rapid development.

3. Homeless America

blogger.com / Via america.aljazeera.com

Currently an estimated 22,000 children live homeless on the streets of New York- the highest number since the Great Depression.

These children form a part of the 1.2m homeless across the nation, up from 600,000 less than a decade ago.

4. Rising Productivity, Stagnant Wages

blogger.com / Via motherjones.com

Despite being more productive than ever, the majority of the American population has seen little increase in income in recent decades. If median household incomes kept up economic growth since 1970, they would be around $92,000. The current median wage is $50,000- a stark reminder that something in the economy is out of balance.

5. "The Poor Stay Poor, The Rich Get Richer"

In 1982, the top 1% families in terms of salary were earning 10.8% of all income in the USA (pre-tax)- the bottom 90% received 64.7%.

However, in 2012 the top 1% received 22.5% of pre-tax income- while the share of the bottom 90% dropped to just 49.6%.

Berkeley economist Emmanuel Saez also estimates that between 2009 and 2012, the time of America's 'economic recovery', the top 1 percent captured 95 percent of total income growth.

6. The American Nightmare?

blogger.com / Via columbia.edu

Despite the grand vision of the 'American Dream', the 'land of opportunity', studies from Columbia University show that socio-economic mobility has been reducing almost constantly since the 1950.

So the problems are pretty visible- the American economy seems to be benefiting disproportionately those at the top of the socio-economic ladder, at the cost of those at the bottom.

What the future holds is unknown- but perhaps as such information becomes more widely available and openly discussed, could we expect some drastic governmental changes to be made in the coming decades to correct these? Only time will tell.