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The situation globally and the situation in first world countries, particularly the USA, is quite different. Income inequality is falling in places like Brazil,

by api 12y ago

The situation globally and the situation in first world countries, particularly the USA, is quite different. Income inequality is falling in places like Brazil, India, and China but is rising in the developed world.

PythonicAlpha 12y ago
And even that, I doubt. In China is rising a new class of Billionaires, which in place exploit their own people. I guess (and there is no real data given in the article), that they just counted for the inequality between countries and found that the lowest incomes in China are doing better against medium or low incomes in other countries. No wonder, since the medium income for example in Germany has dropped .... and of course the medium incomes in countries like China has risen (but the low incomes in those countries are still "poor" compared to Western standards).
enoch_r 12y ago
Inequality actually isn't falling in China or India, though it might be falling slightly in Brazil[1][2][3]. Global income inequality is decreasing because the poor countries are developing, and those countries from a position so far behind the developed world that their growth has a significant effect on global inequality, even if within any particular country inequality has increased. [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_China http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_China [2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_Brazil http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_Brazil [3]http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Income-inequality-on-the-rise-in-countries-like-India-IMF/articleshow/29857803.cms http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/I...
wavefunction 12y ago
It's almost as if the "first world" elites are transferring the wealth of their developed nations and their poor and middle classes to themselves and sending a bit of it overseas to their outsourced interests...
- wavefunction 12y ago
  If you disagree, give me some proof otherwise. The situation I've described allows for a "global rise in income equality" while enforcing the status quo. But you won't because you can't. Anyways...
jorgis 12y ago
I can accept the article's premise that income inequality is falling when you look at incomes globally. However the fact that there are still stratified, separated markets makes his analysis a moot point. Things may be getting better in Africa, but they aren't in the US. Since I currently live in the US I'm more concerned about how income inequality is rising here, which is something that his article brushes off as a non-concern simply because I live in a developed nation. He goes on to argue that I shouldn't worry about how my real wages haven't been increasing because globalization has allowed the wealthy to profit from a bidding war between me and the rest of the world. I'm actually okay with other people being brought up to my standard of living. I'm not okay with people using that as an excuse as to why my own standard of living should be stagnant or declining. He's arguing that I need to "reframe" my point of view. What that really means is that I shouldn't worry about my own problems, but rather be happy that the rest of the world is improving.

by api 12y ago

PythonicAlpha 12y ago

And even that, I doubt. In China is rising a new class of Billionaires, which in place exploit their own people. I guess (and there is no real data given in the article), that they just counted for the inequality between countries and found that the lowest incomes in China are doing better against medium or low incomes in other countries. No wonder, since the medium income for example in Germany has dropped .... and of course the medium incomes in countries like China has risen (but the low incomes in those countries are still "poor" compared to Western standards).

enoch_r 12y ago

Inequality actually isn't falling in China or India, though it might be falling slightly in Brazil[1][2][3]. Global income inequality is decreasing because the poor countries are developing, and those countries from a position so far behind the developed world that their growth has a significant effect on global inequality, even if within any particular country inequality has increased. [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_China http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_China [2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_Brazil http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_Brazil [3]http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Income-inequality-on-the-rise-in-countries-like-India-IMF/articleshow/29857803.cms http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/I...

wavefunction 12y ago

It's almost as if the "first world" elites are transferring the wealth of their developed nations and their poor and middle classes to themselves and sending a bit of it overseas to their outsourced interests...

wavefunction 12y ago
If you disagree, give me some proof otherwise. The situation I've described allows for a "global rise in income equality" while enforcing the status quo. But you won't because you can't. Anyways...

jorgis 12y ago

I can accept the article's premise that income inequality is falling when you look at incomes globally. However the fact that there are still stratified, separated markets makes his analysis a moot point. Things may be getting better in Africa, but they aren't in the US. Since I currently live in the US I'm more concerned about how income inequality is rising here, which is something that his article brushes off as a non-concern simply because I live in a developed nation. He goes on to argue that I shouldn't worry about how my real wages haven't been increasing because globalization has allowed the wealthy to profit from a bidding war between me and the rest of the world. I'm actually okay with other people being brought up to my standard of living. I'm not okay with people using that as an excuse as to why my own standard of living should be stagnant or declining. He's arguing that I need to "reframe" my point of view. What that really means is that I shouldn't worry about my own problems, but rather be happy that the rest of the world is improving.