A research report by Emmanuel Saez into income inequality rates in the US is really shocking and evidence of the sad direction the US and hence the world is heading into. The data collected highlights the trend of widening gaps between the ultra rich and the 'not quites'. I would not be surprised if these ratios are even more bizarrely skewed in Pakistan.
The first image here indicates the top 0.01% of the working population and what share of the total earning they get. The 2008 stats indicate that these guys get a whopping 6% of the total pie. Thats probably more shocking than it sounds. Just the top 0.01% getting 6%. Thats like saying that if the total number of people is 10,000, 1 of these guys makes 6% of the total of what everyone makes. That just totally boggles my mind. These levels are higher than ever before and if these trends continue, god knows what the outcomes will be for the average people.
This second graph is just as startling if not more so. It indicates how the earnings percentages have changed among the top 1%, 1-5%, and 5-10% of the US population. As seen in the chart, the top 1% makes approximately 23% of the total earnings. I just find it difficult to really get a hang of what that translates into, the resource spread is just so lopsided, its bound to result in devastating results eventually. You can also see that the top 10% are making 50% of the total money. When money starts accumulating in such limited number of hands, how long can you expect there to be peace. Of all the problems the world faces, this seems the hardest to solve.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/14/income-inequality-is-at-a_n_259516.html
1 comment:
Woah! didn't know inequality was that bad! I wonder what Pakistan is like, probably worse I guess?
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