This is a strange coincidence. I was straightening up the genkan, and collecting some old newspapers to stack in a special bag to use for bird cage liners. I used to subscribe to a paper newspaper. I stopped subscribing shortly after the big earthquake in 2011 when I realized I was just getting day old news and it was easier to read on my iPad. Anyway, I came across this one. Note the date. I guess things haven’t changed much.
Here is a scary statistic on wage inequality in the United States. I think even the well-off should be concerned about this, because all the “nice stuff” everybody likes to own won’t get made without a thriving middle class to also buy them.
Q. The average household in the ‘top 1 percent’ by income out-earned a typical ‘bottom 90 percent’ household by how much in 2012?
A. 42 times as much, with income averaging $1.3 million.
For comparison, in 1938, when America first introduced a minimum wage, the income of the top 1 percent was 25 times larger than that of the average “bottom 90” percenter, according to data derived from tax returns by researchers including Emmanuel Saez.
It’s an interesting quiz to take:
ref: The Christian Science Monitor – http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2014/0122/Are-the-rich-getting-richer-Take-our-quiz-on-inequality-and-incomes/Top-incomes