The Inequality Gap

The Congressional Budget Office recently reported that income inequality is at its highest level since 1979. In 2006 the average individual in the top .1% of wage earners made $2.1 million. This correlates to 77 times as much as the average individual in the bottom 90%. It took that top earner just 3 days and 3 hours worth of work to make what the average bottom 90% worker earned ALL YEAR! In 1979 it took 12 whole days for the top .1% earner to accomplish the same feat.

In 2004 if you grabbed a random group of 100 American families:
- Only 5 family would have had annual income over $157,000
- 20 families would have had incomes over $88,000
- 40 families would have had annual incomes UNDER $18,500

Capitalism is unequivocally the greatest economic system(although recent events put this notion in jeopardy). However, statistics like these make me wonder if parts of the system are in need of repair. These are not problems that are solved overnight, nor is complete income equality the goal. The goal is fairness and it is only possible when we realize that growth and prosperity for our country is dependent on all income classes, not just the privileged few. Our economy faces many challenges, this is without a doubt one of the most pressing.