Posted on 01/17/2017 8:24:44 AM PST by RitchieAprile
The United States is one of the richest countries in the world. It is also one of the most unequal. As a report released today shows, the U.S. ranks 23 out of 30 developed nations in a measure known as the “inclusive development index,” which factors in data on income, health, poverty, and sustainability.
The index comes from the World Economic Forum, whose annual summit is taking place in Davos this week. It is a rather comprehensive measure of inequality, and the fact that the U.S. ranks so poorly is a sign of the country’s dramatic wealth concentration. Of all the factors in the index, the U.S. performed worst in what the WEF calls the inclusion category, which measures the distribution of income and wealth, and the level of poverty. Additionally, the country received particularly low marks in the areas of social protection—defined as efficiency of public goods and services and robustness of social safety nets—and employment and labor compensation. The U.S. joins Brazil, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, and South Africa as countries with inclusive-development rankings that fall below their GDP per capita rankings, a sign that their economic growth is not being shared, the report says. The U.S. had the largest gap between the two measures.
That economic inequality characterizes the American economy as no surprise. Study after study shows that America has more wealth concentration than most other developed nations. But WEF’s findings about how poorly the U.S. performs when it comes to wages and social safety nets is particularly notable since legislation intended to address those disparities are set to undergo significant changes in the early years of the Trump administration.
In the U.S., wage growth has been non-existent for much of the post-recession era. That only changed this past year, when wages grew by around 2 percent. While that small bump is progress in the right direction, it is not enough to bring Americans financial security. The political parties are divided on why this is the case and what should be done about it.. Republicans tend to look at paltry wage gains and blame regulations that they say hinder business growth. That growth, they contend, would trickle down to workers’ paychecks. Additionally, as of late Republicans are also arguing that globalization has diminished the number of well-paying middle-class jobs. The solutions many conservatives support include tightening trade and loosening regulations and taxes on American businesses. Democrats however, point to structural issues such as shareholder pressure on companies to produce stellar quarterly earnings, which often means boosting profits by cutting labor costs, or the decline in union power, which hinders the ability of workers to negotiate for higher salaries and better benefits. The answer, they generally argue, is to increase legislative protections for workers, including raising the minimum wage or strengthening safety-net programs that provide for the very poor.
The GOP will soon get its chance to test their ideas. As my colleagues Adam Chandler and Alexia Campbell have both written, perhaps the clearest indication of what the Trump administration has in mind for wage protections is the choice of Andrew Puzder for secretary of the Department of Labor. Puzder, the CEO of a fast-food company, has been outspoken about his disdain for federally mandated minimum-wage increases and new overtime rules that would result in either raises or additional pay for millions of workers. Conservatives have said that these rules place an undue burden on business owners, which could result in hiring fewer works, or giving them fewer hours—which would ultimately hurt the labor force. Advocates of these federal initiatives say that, without them, workers—especially low-income workers—will remain underpaid, overworked, and without enough consistent income to access basic necessities.
The WEF report argues that the U.S.’s striking inequality likely influences a variety of other disparities, including political and social polarization. The report suggests that while dangerous, the current problem can be improved through policies that, among other things, promote parity in wages regardless of gender, race or ethnicity; educational opportunities; and access to jobs.
with inclusive-development rankings that fall below their GDP per capita rankings, a sign that their economic growth is not being shared, the report says. The U.S. had the largest gap between the two measures.””
Perhaps these experts in commiecare can share with us how we can have equality when 50 million parasites refuse to work? In today’s world 23rd may be as good as it should get. The parasites should be drained with the rest of the swamp. No able-bodied liberal gets a free ride.
There is wider inequality because there is a wider range of opportunity.
I would imagine that the wealth of the top 100 people could dramatically skew the stats.
A guilt trip by the ultra liberal Atlantic Magazine.
When everybody is poor, there is not much inequality. This is not a good measuring tool.
World Economic Forum = Propaganda
> factors in data on income, health, poverty, and sustainability.
We need a survey on leisure inequality.
* In school (k-12 & college) what’s the difference in time/effort spent studying vs having fun
* In work, what’s the difference in people putting in nights/weekends to get ahead vs “going to the lake/game/movies/etc”
* what’s the difference in effort adults make to learn a new skill/field or get more education vs relaxing/drinking/partying
The rich people I know have SIGNIFICANTLY less leisure time than average. It’s possible that income/wealth inequality have something to do with personal choices on leisure. Lefties should look into that. It’s not true at an individual level but seems like there’s a correlation across society.
Inequality of retarded reasoning capacity of liberals vs. ability to resolve issues by Conservatives? Sure I can accept that.
What's wrong with that? Free men are not equal and equal men are not free.
FYI
"A guy looked at my Porsche the other day and said, "I wonder how many people could have been fed for the money that sports car cost."I replied, "I am not sure, but it fed a lot of families in Bowling Green, Kentucky who built it, it fed the people who make the tires, it fed the people who made the components that went into it, it fed the people in the copper mine who mined the copper for the wires, it fed people in Decatur IL, at Caterpillar who make the trucks that haul the copper ore. It fed the trucking people who hauled it from the plant to the dealer and fed the people working at the dealership and their families. BUT,… I have to admit, I guess I really don’t know how many people it fed."
That is the difference between capitalism and welfare mentality.
When you buy something, you put money in people’s pockets, and give them dignity for their skills.
When you give someone something for nothing, you rob them of their dignity and self worth. Capitalism is freely giving your money in exchange for something of value. Socialism is taking your money against your will and shoving something down your throat that you never asked for.
(from the Martin Armstrong Blog this morning...)
Inequality is the natural state of things.
Some people have the ambition of becoming a CEO, others have the ambition to just get high every day. So yes, it shouldn’t come as a shock that with freedom comes inequality.
Some people have the ambition of becoming a CEO, others have the ambition to just get high every day. So yes, it shouldn’t come as a shock that with freedom comes inequality
_____
Even leftists know that they can’t make everyone equal in the strictest sense of the word. This is a smokescreen for ‘spreading the wealth.’ Always someone else’s wealth, though.
Equality in ANYTHING is a vastly overrated virtue, and may not even be a virtue at all. Equality is nothing like the same thing as equalization, where balancing factors are considered in assigning relative value to each of two sets of circumstances.
The best that can be afforded in any viable society, that depends on persuasion and not force of arms to support their social contract, is only supplying the OPPORTUNITY, not the outcome.
Oppression and tyranny have been the lot of the great majority of mankind, from time immemorial, and brief bouts of democratic rule have been repeatedly driven out of existence, until the principle of equalization, not equality, was put forth in the name of a representation of various voices through elected leaders of the republic.
The United States of America, in a strict sense, is NOT a democracy, which relies on equality of all (in which some are much more equal than others), but a representative republic, as there may be several opinions expressed without being trampled by mob rule, each to be given as much or as little support as can be logically assigned by the consensus of the time.
If you took all the money from the rich and magically transferred it to the poor, the rich would get all the money back within months.
“And the trees are all kept equal with hatchet, axe and saw.”
Rush - The Trees
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnC88xBPkkc
Total wealth of the USA ($84.9T) divided by population (313.9M) equals about a quarter-million dollars per person.
Total annual income (GDP@PPP) of the USA ($17T) divided by population equals about $54,000/yr per person.
Not sure how that should be interpreted.
“Wealth” then correlates to about 5 years’ income.
Minimum wage works out to $14,700/yr.
Poverty line is $11,880/yr per individual (less if within family).
World median individual income is $2,920/yr.
The article also likely conveniently overlooks the fact that the USA is a collection of 50 states roughly equivalent in size to the others on the list. Might be more telling to do the ranking by US states, rather than by US as a whole.
No need to read past the third sentence. Another George Soros funded effort to destroy America.
Only in America are the poor given housing, food, subsidies for everything, "free" cable tv, internet access, healthcare and more.
Show me the poor in other countries who receive the same.
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