From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (misc.activism.progressive co-moderator)
Subject: The Decline of America: "We're Number One" in Inequality
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: misc.activism.progressive on UseNet ; ACTIV-L@UMCVMB
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 16:31:00 GMT

The Decline of America: "We're Number One" in Inequality


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Percentage share of household income held by the poorest 40
            percent of the population, 1979-87:
=======================================================

			   PERCENT  
	       COUNTRY      SHARE   

	       Belgium        22
	       Japan          22
	       Sweden         21
	       Germany        20
	       Ireland        20
	       Netherlands    20

	       Italy          19
	       Norway         19
	       Spain          19
	       Canada         18
	       Finland        18
	       France         18

	       Denmark        17
	       Switzerland    17
	       United Kingdom 17

	       Australia      16
	       New Zealand    16
	       United States  16

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[Needless to say, the extra 25% in income between haveing 16% and
having 20% is much more substantial than the figures, "a few
percentage points apart" might initially convey; moreover, a 25%
increase/cut means quite a bit more to those living at poverty level
incomes most/all of whose income goes to food and other necessities -HB]
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


Sources (for chart and text): UNICEF, The State of the World's Children
1991 (New York Oxford University Press, 1991), p. 103: The World Bank World
Development Report 1991 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), p. 263.


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		     A   s e r i o u s   g a p .
		     ===========================

Americans are concerned about the inequality of wealth distribution in
the United States. When told that "over the past ten years, the income
of the poorest 20 percent of the families in the U.S. has gone down 9
percent, while the income of the richest 20 percent has gone up 19
percent," nine out often Americans respond that this is a serious
problem. Seven out of ten say it is very serious.

Source: The Harris Poll, April 15, 1990.

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From:

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
_We're Number One, Where America Stands -- and Falls -- in the New    
World Order_ by Andrew L Shapiro.   

New York, May 1992, Vintage Books, a division of Random House.   
$10 paperback. ISBN 0-679-73893-2  
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -   

    "America is becoming a land of private greed and public squalor.   
    This book is an indispensable road map through the wreckage. The   
    facts it reveals will startle you. They may depress you. But   
    ideally they'll fire you up to help rebuild this nation."   

                        -Robert B. Reich, author of The Work of Nations   


Xref: sparky misc.activism.progressive:7459 alt.activism:17531