Posted on 06/21/2011 4:23:07 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
The gap between America's rich and poor is reportedly at an extreme high, much higher than many developing countries like Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, and even Yemen.
According to the Central Investigative Agency's (CIA) World Fact Book, which ranks countries in terms of how 'equally' wealth is distributed, the U.S. is the 42nd most unequal country in the world, the Daily Mail reports.
It has been ranked way behind the European Union and the United Kingdom in terms of equality of pay. In fact, the situation is so extreme that it has even been placed behind countries such as Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen.
It is reportedly just ahead of Uganda and Jamaica.
Although income disparity in the U.S. has been growing for decades, the latest figures show that it has now reached levels not seen since the Great Depression.
Ten percent of the total personal income in America was taken home by the top 0.1 percent of earners in 2008, the latest year for which figures are available.
Research suggests the reason for this extraordinary disparity is a huge rise in pay for company executives.
'Basically, executives represent a much bigger share of the top incomes than a lot of people had thought. Before, we just didn't know who these people were," economist Jon Bakija, a professor at Williams College who with his co-authors is continuing the research, said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailyindia.com ...
Having traveled to many 3rd world countries, i.e., Kenya, Brazil, Peru, Nicaragua, as well as several places in Eastern Europe and the former USSR, I've come to realize that most Americans have no idea what real poverty is all about. When you see filthy, barefoot kids dressed in rags picking over a garbage dump gathering their breakfast every morning for a couple of months and then contrast that with welfare brood mares adorned from head to toe with bling, yakking on their cell phones with their fancy hairdo's and painted nails while waiting in line for another gubmint hand out from Obama's "stash" it's really striking. I've been all over this country, 49 states worth, and I've never seen anything remotely close to what I've seen elsewhere.
Many in this country CHOOSE to be poor...
You forgot India. The plain fact is the "poor" in America live better than the poor anywhere else on the planet. The great majority of the poor in America are poor because of the choices they made in life. That doesn't mean they're living horribly, it just means they don't have as much goodies as other Americans. That's why some years ago some American writer who had a friend from India visiting him, was asked by his Indian friend to take him for a walk in the poor part of some eastern big city. The American asked him why. The Indian replied because he wanted to walk in a part of the world where the poor people were fatter than the rich people back home in India.
America is where the “poor” are more likely to be obese than any other economic group.
Everywhere else is where the “poor” are starving.
in Cameroon EVERYBODY is POOR (which is obviously the Obama Plan)
>>>>>It was intended to make as many people as possible dependent on gubmint>>>>>>
Exactly. They need freeloaders to get elected. As soon as underclasses are growing you have to expect them winning the election no matter how faulty all the other policies apart from redistributing wealth are.
The problem with that is someone’s else money are going to finish too.
There are a number of examples of failed socialist’s paradises.
Yep. All of 'em. Socialism has failed everywhere it's been tried. (and don't think for a minute that "they" don't know it)......
Prepare for the flaming.
You have just spoken blasphemy on FR.
Whatever.
The MSM acts like poor Americans are drinking from sewers and starving to death when they overwhelmingly have decent paid for meals and own their own vehicles.
They have to tell their people that things are worse here than they are there.
If the poor masses in India found out how the poorest of the poor live here, they’d be at the Mexican border sneaking in as we speak.
There are a few fortunate enough to not have experienced it yet and they don't believe me. I envy them for their optimism but this will change in time.
Then there are those people that blind themselves. Especially those that benefit from corruption. Their time will come too...
There’s no disparity that a healthy dose of Communism can’t level out! /sarcasm
Here’s a window into the mind of the Left. To them, better the whole population live in squalor. Hey, at least they’re “Equal”!
They’re not about creating wealth. Never have been. They’re about seizing wealth forcing everyone down to the same level of equality.
Yes, the Daily India ... Newspaper of record.
Inequality in and of itself is not a bad thing. The key metric to watch for in any society is the gap between the “poor” and absolute bare survival poverty.
If that gap goes into negative territory, watch out for a revolution!
the second one is a Polish joke :) The Poles I’ve discovered, have a wicked sense of humor. Nowak is supposed to be one of the most common surnames here, along with Kowalski, like Smith in ENgland, but I’ve never met even 1 Nowak/Kowalski, while i’ve known lots of Smiths in the UK
True, JP did do that
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