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Excellent stats. Thanks for posting this. The picture is pretty bleak. According to CIA's World Book, 1 in 8 Americans live at or below the poverty level. On

by all 16y ago

Excellent stats. Thanks for posting this. The picture is pretty bleak. According to CIA's World Book, 1 in 8 Americans live at or below the poverty level. Only 6.24% of the working population older than 25 make $100k+. The average income for the same demographic is around $32k. So, yes, all the data says the same thing: there is a massive economic polarisation going on in the US.

igravious 16y ago
How long does this keep on going for? Is there some process or mechanism within the system that will put the brakes on this? Another measure of wealth disparity is the Gini index. We should forget GDP (or GDP with PPP) (or GNP) per capita as a metric. If I live in a country where there are only two people, one of who (not me) earns $1,000,000 per annum and the other (me) earns $10,000 and I'm told that the GDP per capita is $55,000 I'm not going to be impressed. But if the Gini index for my little two person country states that there is a massive imbalance in the distribution of wealth then I'll prefer that index. What I'm trying to ask is: how long can this keep going on before some sort of underclass revolution kicks in. Or, are the poor in the US not _really_ absolutely poor (like rural farm-hand in China poor) but relatively poor (as in 36" LCD TV instead on 50"). You know what would be a cool hack? Solving this economic train-wreck.
- all 16y ago
  Absolutely. I agree 110%, but there is so much intertia going into this that it seems irredeemable. It isn't. I keep telling myself that it isn't, but I see no way the US can pull out of this both personally and on a state level. The amount of retrenchment needed is inconceivable. I've lost the link, but someone posted on HN a few weeks back about the economy going double-dip, and the slideshow ended with a link to Niall Ferguson accepting an award. In that speech, he demonstrated that the US will soon need to spend more money to service its debt than it does on its military (which is a humongous percentage of the budget), and that is an historic sign of imperial decline. The current policies of both the US and the UK mean that by 2040, their debts will equal some 450% of their respective GDPs - they will out-Greece Greece.
- yummyfajitas 16y ago
  Or, are the poor in the US not _really_ absolutely poor (like rural farm-hand in China poor) but relatively poor (as in 36" LCD TV instead on 50") Bingo. The poor of today are what used to be described as "middle class" (in terms of living standards) except with vastly more leisure time. http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2004/01/understanding-poverty-in-america http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2004/01/understandi...

by all 16y ago

igravious 16y ago

How long does this keep on going for? Is there some process or mechanism within the system that will put the brakes on this? Another measure of wealth disparity is the Gini index. We should forget GDP (or GDP with PPP) (or GNP) per capita as a metric. If I live in a country where there are only two people, one of who (not me) earns $1,000,000 per annum and the other (me) earns $10,000 and I'm told that the GDP per capita is $55,000 I'm not going to be impressed. But if the Gini index for my little two person country states that there is a massive imbalance in the distribution of wealth then I'll prefer that index. What I'm trying to ask is: how long can this keep going on before some sort of underclass revolution kicks in. Or, are the poor in the US not _really_ absolutely poor (like rural farm-hand in China poor) but relatively poor (as in 36" LCD TV instead on 50"). You know what would be a cool hack? Solving this economic train-wreck.

all 16y ago
Absolutely. I agree 110%, but there is so much intertia going into this that it seems irredeemable. It isn't. I keep telling myself that it isn't, but I see no way the US can pull out of this both personally and on a state level. The amount of retrenchment needed is inconceivable. I've lost the link, but someone posted on HN a few weeks back about the economy going double-dip, and the slideshow ended with a link to Niall Ferguson accepting an award. In that speech, he demonstrated that the US will soon need to spend more money to service its debt than it does on its military (which is a humongous percentage of the budget), and that is an historic sign of imperial decline. The current policies of both the US and the UK mean that by 2040, their debts will equal some 450% of their respective GDPs - they will out-Greece Greece.
yummyfajitas 16y ago
Or, are the poor in the US not _really_ absolutely poor (like rural farm-hand in China poor) but relatively poor (as in 36" LCD TV instead on 50") Bingo. The poor of today are what used to be described as "middle class" (in terms of living standards) except with vastly more leisure time. http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2004/01/understanding-poverty-in-america http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2004/01/understandi...