Don’t you think it’s an outrage in a country as rich as ours that a full 20% of the population is in the bottom quintile of income?
Uh...no. Our “poverty line” is defined as 20x the world median income. I think it’s wonderful that most of our bottom 20% are better off than half the people on the planet.
>>Don’t you think it’s an outrage in a country as rich as ours that a full 20% of the population is in the bottom quintile of income?<<
Not at all. There are lazy people in every group. Are saying that some people in the country don’t have the same opportunities as we do?
There will always be 20% of the population in the bottom 20%.
That's what they'd like you to think, but it's not true. In order to cook the books on what percentage of income is earned by those in the "bottom quintile," they've actually defined the "bottom quintile" as being fewer than 20% of income earners.
And few of the members of the "bottom quintile are dead-enders; predominantly they are young people just starting out. More of those who were in the bottom quintile ten years ago are in the top quintile now, than are still in the bottom quintile today.