tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6399730406480392183.post7167484928943021191..comments2024-03-27T11:18:34.222-03:00Comments on Viable Opposition: Income Inequality: Is Society as Polarized as We Think?A Political Junkiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03342345936277964422noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6399730406480392183.post-26468799987931011642011-10-29T18:01:52.042-03:002011-10-29T18:01:52.042-03:00Good post, showing that one can quantify the degre...Good post, showing that one can quantify the degree of income inequality and its trends over decades. A few observations:<br /><br />a) The blue-shaded map labeled "showing the countries with the highest income inequality" actually does show countries with decreases in income inequality. (For example, Namibia, the country with the highest Gini, is not highlighted in this map.)<br /><br />b) "The United States has a Gini Coefficient of 0.38" (assuming from context that it's Gini of income inequality). However, in 2009, the US had a Gini of income inequality of 0.46. See Wikipedia on income inequality and its sources.<br /><br />Income inequality in the US has been growing since the 80's. And movements like OccupyWallStreet seem to indicate that there is growing discontent about it. That said, translating such observations and quantifications on inequality into sensible policy positions seems to be tricky, as we can observe in the US Republican Party's Presidential Candidates Campaigns.<br /><br />I like the Richard Freeman quote at the beginning of the post. It suggests that worldwide globalization is helping more than hurting.<br /><br />If you're interested, I have posted more on inequality and Gini on my own Blog here: http://visualign.wordpress.com/2011/09/22/visualizing-inequality/Thomas Laussermairhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09370323479641065533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6399730406480392183.post-19593711049085797322011-10-20T10:13:30.622-03:002011-10-20T10:13:30.622-03:00Ok PJ ,if you were CEO of McCain Oil an Gas,what i...Ok PJ ,if you were CEO of McCain Oil an Gas,what is your top pay you would want? An that pension you have now,you don't really need it,so why do you still take it? What has really happen world Gov. have given to the Gov. Unions what they want,an the unions have made sure Gov. keeps giving. But spending didn't match Tax Rev. because the Gov. new the non union tax payer could not pay those higher taxes. But you Knew that right?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6399730406480392183.post-72763344363138435662011-10-16T10:16:48.785-03:002011-10-16T10:16:48.785-03:00Ahh. Yes, I expect it does. Thanks!
JennAhh. Yes, I expect it does. Thanks!<br /><br />JennAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6399730406480392183.post-22794504977318866382011-10-15T22:45:17.499-03:002011-10-15T22:45:17.499-03:00Jenn
If you look at the Conference Board report, ...Jenn<br /><br />If you look at the Conference Board report, they have a graph showing income inequality over time both weighted to population and unweighted. The weighted inequality is increasing with time and the other is not. Does that help? I didn't include that in my posting because it was simply too long!A Political Junkiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03342345936277964422noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6399730406480392183.post-36507083408397333042011-10-13T11:28:01.552-03:002011-10-13T11:28:01.552-03:00Hi Political Junkie. I read your blog last night, ...Hi Political Junkie. I read your blog last night, and I read this just now. http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/5-facts-about-the-wealthiest-1-percent-2086/4<br /><br />Something's wrong, and I'm betting on you, except if Live Science (who I normally find quite trustworthy) is using 2009 data and you are using 2010 data, how is it that income inequality is increasing? Please help me make sense of all of this!<br /><br />JennAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6399730406480392183.post-85082095104340048122011-10-13T00:25:55.562-03:002011-10-13T00:25:55.562-03:00Nice post, it's my first time on your blog and...Nice post, it's my first time on your blog and I'm impressed with this and the other articles I've looked at.<br />You mixed the concepts of wealth (accumulated over a lifetime) and income (a flow over a year), but I'll forgive you. This debate always gets mired in technical mumbo-jumbo that just turns off the casual reader. <br />The approach of taking a Forbes-type list to estimate the incomes of the top segment of the population is one that interests me, since the odds of sampling (and getting a response from) one of these mega-rich is slim to none, and income surveys are quite restricted in how finely they slice and dice the data due to confidentiality concerns.<br />Saez and Pinketty (sp?) have done very interesting work in the US showing how it's not just the top 20% or the top 10% driving the inequality increase, it's the top 1%. A chap at McMaster is doing similar Canadian research, I recall. The secret to getting this fine a cut of the diamond is to use tax data (with the tie-in to social benefits from tax forms, the data is that much more complete at the bottom end of the income scale).<br />Finally, it seems, people are connecting the dots between the economic malaise we find ourselves in and the years of steadily growing inequality. The global aspect of inequality is much more profound, and frankly immoral.carsjamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16590380385637079965noreply@blogger.com