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Studies over many years have shown increasing income inequality in the United States.[1] These facts have been further pushed into the national spotlight by the OWS movement. OWS protesters are concerned with wealth and income inequality, in addition to greed and what they see as the corrupting power that banks and multinational corporations hold over society.[2]

Inequality in wealth and income has increased over the last three decades with economic stagnation and unequal distribution of wealth undermining the goals of most Americans."[3][4][5]


A 2010 poll found that an overwhelming majority of Americans across the political spectrum, including the wealthiest, want more equitable distribution of wealth.[6]


According to The Guardian Data Blog, Americans, including 90% of Republicans, believe that the top 20% of Americans should own as much as 40% of the wealth of the nation, and that the poorest 120 million Americans should own about 10% of the wealth of the nation. However, in reality the top 20% of people in the Unites States own 85% of the wealth, the 120 million poorest own .3% (about 1/333rd or one third of one percent), and the richest 1% own about 33%.[5][7]


According to 2007 statistics, financial inequality (total net worth minus the value of one's home[8]) is greater than inequality in total wealth, with the top 1% of the population owning 42.7%, the next 19% of Americans owning 50.3%, and the bottom 80% owning 7%.[4]


However, during the 2008–2012 global recession, the share of total wealth owned by the top 1% of the population grew from 34.6% to 37.1%, and that owned by the top 20% of Americans grew from 85% to 87.7%. The Great Recession also caused a drop of 36.1% in median household wealth but a drop of only 11.1% for the top 1%, further widening the gap between the 1% and the 99%.[4][9][10]


Tax rates paid by the wealthy are less than those paid by Americans making $100,000 to $200,000 per year: incomes of $100,000 to $200,000 are taxed at an effective rate of 25%, but the wealthy, whose income comes mostly from investments, pay less than 20%.[5]

Since 1979, federal taxation has become less progressive, shifting away from progressive income taxes and toward payroll taxes.[3][2]

In the United States, about 15% of households are "food insecure," meaning that they have difficulty buying enough food. About 50 million Americans have no health insurance and at least 42 million —about 1/7th of the population— live below the poverty line.[5]

Executive pay in the largest US companies has quadrupled since the 1970s, but the average non-supervisory employee is paid 10% less.[5][11][12][13][14]

  1. ^ "Wealth, Income, and Power by G. William Domhoff". University of California at Santa Cruz. Retrieved 12-21-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  2. ^ a b Income Inequality The New York Times March 22, 2012
  3. ^ a b ael Hiltzik (December 31, 2011). "Presidential campaign needs to get real on salvaging middle class". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 25 April 2012.
  4. ^ a b c Occupy Wall Street And The Rhetoric of Equality Forbes November 1, 2011 by Deborah L. Jacobs
  5. ^ a b c d e Occupy protestors say it is 99% v 1%. Are they right? The Guardian Data Blog, by Simon Rogers, Wednesday 16 November
  6. ^ Occupy Wall Street: More popular than you think By Brian Montopoli October 13, 2011 "the vast majority [of Americans] seem to share the protesters' sense that the economic deck is stacked"
  7. ^ United in Our Delusion By David Cay Johnston October 11, 2010, as cited by The Guardian Data Blog
  8. ^ "Financial wealth" is defined by economists as "total net worth minus the value of one's home," including investments and other liquid assets.
  9. ^ Recent Trends in Household Wealth in the United States: Rising Debt and the Middle-Class Squeeze—an Update to 2007 by Edward N. Wolff, Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, March 2010
  10. ^ Wealth, Income, and Power by G. William Domhoff of the UC-Santa Barbara Sociology Department
  11. ^ Cozy relationships and ‘peer benchmarking’ send CEOs’ pay soaring The Washington Post with Bloomberg, special report on Breakaway Wealth, By Peter Whoriskey, October 3, 2011
  12. ^ Ratcheting up pay with peer comparison The Washington Post with Bloomberg, October 3, 2011.
  13. ^ Who are the 1 percent?, CNN, October 29, 2011
  14. ^ "Tax Data Show Richest 1 Percent Took a Hit in 2008, But Income Remained Highly Concentrated at the Top." Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Accessed October 2011.

Draft edited following consensus established under objections

[edit]
A chart showing the disparity in income distribution in the United States.[1][2] Wealth inequality and income inequality have been central concerns among OWS protesters.[3][4][5]

Studies over many years have shown increasing income inequality in the United States.[6]

These facts have been further pushed into the national spotlight by the OWS movement. OWS protesters are concerned with wealth and income inequality, in addition to greed and what they see as the corrupting power that banks and multinational corporations hold over society.

Inequality in wealth and income has increased over the last three decades with economic stagnation and unequal distribution of wealth undermining the goals of most Americans."[7]


A 2010 poll found that an overwhelming majority of Americans across the political spectrum, including the wealthiest, want more equitable distribution of wealth.[8]

According to The Guardian Data Blog, Americans, including the vast majority of Republicans, believe that the top 20% of Americans should own as much as 40% of the wealth of the nation, and that the poorest 120 million Americans should own about 10%. Currently, the top 20% own 85% of the wealth; the 120 million poorest own .3%; and the most affluent 1% own about 33%.[9]

Deborah Jacobs of Forbes states that according to 2007 statistics, financial inequality (total net worth minus the value of one's home[10]) is greater than inequality in total wealth, with the top 1% of the population owning 42.7%, the next 19% of Americans owning 50.3%, and the bottom 80% owning 7%.[11]

However, even before the 2008–2012 global recession the share of total wealth owned by the top 1% of the population grew from 34.6% to 37.1%, and that owned by the top 20% of Americans grew from 85% to 87.7%. The recession also caused a drop of 36.1% in median household wealth but a drop of only 11.1% for the top 1%, further widening the gap between the 1% and the 99%.[6]

Tax rates paid by the wealthiest are less than those paid by Americans making $100,000 to $200,000 per year: incomes of $100,000 to $200,000 are taxed at an effective rate of 25%, but the most affluent, whose income derives mostly from investments, pay less than 20%.[nb 1] Since 1979, federal taxation has become less progressive, shifting away from progressive income taxes and toward payroll taxes.[7] In the United States, about 15% of households are "food insecure," meaning that they have difficulty buying enough food. About 50 million Americans have no health insurance and at least 42 million —about 1/7th of the population— live below the poverty line.[nb 2] Executive pay in the largest US companies has quadrupled since the 1970s, but the average non-supervisory employee is paid 10% less.[nb 3][12][13][14][15]
  1. ^ "Tax Data Show Richest 1 Percent Took a Hit in 2008, But Income Remained Highly Concentrated at the Top. Recent Gains of Bottom 90 Percent Wiped Out." Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Accessed October 2011.
  2. ^ “By the Numbers.” Demos.org. Accessed October 2011.
  3. ^ Alessi, Christopher (October). "Occupy Wall Street's Global Echo". Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved October 17, 2011. The Occupy Wall Street protests that began in New York City a month ago gained worldwide momentum over the weekend, as hundreds of thousands of demonstrators in nine hundred cities protested corporate greed and wealth inequality. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  4. ^ Jones, Clarence (October 17, 2011). ">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/clarence-b-jones/obama-mlk-memorial-_b_1016077.html "Occupy Wall Street and the King Memorial Ceremonies". The Huffington Post. Retrieved October 17, 2011. The reality is that 'Occupy Wall Street' is raising the consciousness of the country on the fundamental issues of poverty, income inequality, economic justice, and the Obama administration's apparent double standard in dealing with Wall Street and the urgent problems of Main Street: unemployment, housing foreclosures, no bank credit to small business in spite of nearly three trillion of cash reserves made possible by taxpayers funding of TARP.
  5. ^ Chrystia Freeland (October 14, 2011). "Wall Street protesters need to find their 'sound bite'". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved October 17, 2011.
  6. ^ a b "Wealth, Income, and Power by G. William Domhoff". University of California at Santa Cruz. Retrieved 12-21-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  7. ^ a b ael Hiltzik (December 31, 2011). "Presidential campaign needs to get real on salvaging middle class". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 25 April 2012.
  8. ^ Occupy Wall Street: More popular than you think By Brian Montopoli October 13, 2011 "the vast majority [of Americans] seem to share the protesters' sense that the economic deck is stacked"
  9. ^ a b c d Simon Rogers (2011-11-16). "Occupy protestors say it is 99% v 1%. Are they right? | News | guardian.co.uk". Guardian. Retrieved 2012-05-21.
  10. ^ "Financial wealth" is defined by economists as "total net worth minus the value of one's home," including investments and other liquid assets.
  11. ^ Occupy Wall Street And The Rhetoric of Equality Forbes November 1, 2011 by Deborah L. Jacobs
  12. ^ Cozy relationships and ‘peer benchmarking’ send CEOs’ pay soaring The Washington Post with Bloomberg, special report on Breakaway Wealth, By Peter Whoriskey, October 3, 2011
  13. ^ Ratcheting up pay with peer comparison The Washington Post with Bloomberg, October 3, 2011.
  14. ^ Who are the 1 percent?, CNN, October 29, 2011
  15. ^ "Tax Data Show Richest 1 Percent Took a Hit in 2008, But Income Remained Highly Concentrated at the Top." Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Accessed October 2011.

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Simon Rogers, Guardian Data Blog. Expand this note further.[9]
  2. ^ Simon Rogers, Guardian Data Blog. Expand this note even further as well.[9]
  3. ^ Simon Rogers, Guardian Data Blog. Expand this note further as well.[9]
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