10.08.2010

How Americans Perceive the Distribution of Wealth

Americans have a really distorted view of how wealth is distributed in this country:


The top row shows the actual distribution of wealth in America. The richest 20 percent, represented by that blue line, has about 85 percent of the wealth. The next richest 20 percent, represented by that red line, has about 10 percent of the wealth. And the remaining three-fifths of America shares a tiny sliver of the country's wealth.

Below that, the "Estimated" rows show how different groups think wealth is distributed. As you can see, in people's misinformed minds things are much more equitable.

From: http://www.good.is/post/americans-are-horribly-misinformed-about-who-has-money/

1 comments:

Karen said...

Ignorance is bliss. Those with the shortest "line" fight the hardest to protect those with the longest "line" in the (false) hope they will be the longest one day.