Wealth In America: Separate & Unequal

Written By Max Gibson

“There is only one class in the community that thinks more about money than the rich, and that is the poor. The poor can think of nothing else.”
– Oscar Wilde

The financial divide between the rich and poor is widening. In the wake of the national recession, those with the resources to increase their wealth have done so, and at an alarming rate. Capitalizing on the nation’s winner-take-all economy many of the country’s highest paid individuals have only increased their wealth in spite of the bleak economy. With the wealthiest 1% holding nearly $13 trillion in investable assets, it’s not hard to understand how the majority of the country has fallen into such dire straits.

The Widening Gap

Today in America, the gap between the rich and poor is greater than at any other time since such data has been recorded. A 2008 study by the Wall Street Journal found that the richest .01% (that’s one-hundreth of one percent or 14,000 American families) possess 22.2% of the nations wealth. While the bottom 90%, just over 133 million families control just 4%.

“Come on, this is America.” said a pessimistic Bill Maher on a March episode of Real Time, “Where the top 400 people have more money than the bottom 150 million, combined.” Between the years 1980 and 2005, 80% of all new income generated in the U.S went to the richest 1%. Yet even when put so blunty, it is still difficult to grasp the enormity of this divide. So Bill offers another analogy;

“Say 100 Americans get together and order a 100-slice pizza. The pizza arrives, they open the box and the first guy takes 80 slices!”

What Went Wrong?

Central to the lore of the American Dream is the belief that with enough hard work and dedication one can pull ones self up by the bootstraps and become wealthy. Surprisingly, despite the country’s deepening financial divide, many still believe this to be true. A poll from a 2006 survey in the Economist concluded that eight out of ten Americans believed that they themselves could achieve the American Dream. Yet while the Dream is still alive for many Americans, the reality is a different story.

Today, as of August 2011, more than 14 million people are unemployed in America. 39.6 million are now on food stamps, (a new all time record) while employee compensation is at the lowest it has been in over 50 years. Meanwhile, in 2010 the average bonus for a worker on Wall Street was $128,540.

Compiled by the ProPublica journal, the statistics below give insight into the reality of wealth inequality in America:

Americans below the poverty line in 2010: 46.2 million

Official U.S poverty rate in 2007: before the recession: 12.5 percent

Poverty rate in 2009: 14.3 percent

Poverty rate in 2010: 15.1 percent

Last time the poverty level was this high: 1993

Poverty line in 2010: $22,314 for a family of four, or $11,139 for an individual

Rough amount the poor are living on per week: $200 or less

Poverty rate in American suburbs: 11.8 percent, the highest since 1967

Percentage of the population making less than half the poverty line in 2010: 6.7 percent

Percentage of the population making less than half the poverty line in 2007, before the recession: 5.2 percent

Poverty rate for white Americans in 2010: 13 percent

Poverty rate for African-Americans in 2010: 27.4 percent

Real median household income in 2010: $49,445

Decline in median household income since 2009: 2.3 percent

Decline in median household income since before the recession: 6.4 percent

The last time median household incomes have been this low: 1996

Median income for full-time male workers in 2010: $47,715

Median income for full-time male workers in 1973, in 2010 dollars: $49,065

Official unemployment rate in August 2011: 9.1 percent

Total unemployed people in August: 14 million

People who were employed part-time for economic reasons in August 2011: 8.8 million

People not counted in the labor force who wanted work: 2.6 million

Net jobs created in August 2011: 0

Long term unemployed people as of August 2011: 6 million

Unemployed workers per job opening as of July 2011: 4.34 (3.2 million openings and 13.9 million unemployed people)

Uninsured Americans in 2010: 49.9 million

Percentage of Americans without health insurance in 2010: 16.3 percent

Percentage of Americans without health insurance in 2007, before the recession: 15.3 percent

Percentage of children who were uninsured in 2010: 9.8 percent

Percentage of children in poverty who were uninsured in 2010: 15.4 percent

Percentage of American households that had enough to eat throughout the year in 2007: 88.9 percent

Percentage of American households that had enough to eat throughout the year in 2010: 85.5 percent