You might not know it, with all the progress we've made as a society in the past 100 years (our first black president, for instance), but America is still an incredibly unequal place. The gaps between classes, sexes, and races are--in many ways--actually getting worse, and the gap between the rich and the poor is larger than at any time in the last 75 years.
This graphic illustrates just a few of the quantifiable ways that our society manifests these various inequalities.
Taken from information provided by The Stanford Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality, the graphic--by Kristy Tillman for Objects in Repeat--explains 15 different facts about American inequality that might tweak your worldview a little. For instance, did you know that the average CEO's pay is 1,039 times more generous than that of the average worker?
And it's not as if we've always lived that way. Forty years ago, CEOs were only being paid 39 times that of the average worker. Some companies these days are tying CEO pay to the pay of the least compensated employee at the same company. Clearly not that many.
Or look at the results of a study done in Chicago and Boston in 2001 and 2002: Job applicants with "black" sounding names were far less likely to be called in for job interviews (this was back when there were jobs to interview for):
Looking for a job? Consider changing your name to Kristen or Carrie on your resume. That wouldn't help your insurance situation, though. Children of minorities are far more likely to live without health insurance:
What else? Women also make less than men (though this is improving!) and jobs with higher pay have a smaller percentage of women working at them. Minorities are far more likely to drop out of school, and immigrants are far less likely to receive an education. And though GDP has risen, wages have remained stagnant (except for those CEOs), which has contributed to the top 10% of the wealthiest Americans controlling nearly three-quarters of all the money in America.
Taken individually, there are potential statistical and cultural reasons to explain away each of these stats. Arranged in this order, it's hard not to realize we need to do better to give everyone a little bit more of an even playing field.
COMMENTARY: Nothing about this infographic shocks me. Not everyone is meant to be rich. Capitalism does not work for everybody. When you become rich, for some reason people forget where they came from. The attitude seems to be, "I got mine, so go get yours." That's the problem with trickle down economics. There is really no trickle down.
CEO's that did a shitty job, still draw huge bonuses. It is a rare case where this is not true. Even those banks that were bailed out by the Federal government, paid themselves fat bonsuses. They are the ones that got us into this fine economic mess.
Where are the jobs for minorities and older Americans. Race has a lot to do with it. If you are a minority, namely black or hispanic, you already have two strikes against you. If you are over 50 years of age, nobody wants to hire you. If you are out of work, many employer's won't even interview view. What's with that shit? Even employment ads say, "only employed need apply". There is no such thing as racial equality. I looked at the unemployment numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and they are frightening.
What I have never been able to figure out is why all developed countries, and even many developing nations, that universal healthcare for their people, yet the U.S. believes that this is a bad thing. It's not a right. I don't want to dwelve too deeply into politics, but is it possible that some individuals, don't care if you die due to lack of healthcare? I am really disturbed by this. It goes beyond cruelty.
I actually looked into America's healthcare system in a previous blog post titled, "An Unabashed Look At The U.S. Health Care System, 'The Greatest Health Care System In The World', Damn Gummit". It gets worst, did you know how much the pharmaceutical industry paid politician's to protect their interests through their Washington, D.C. lobbyists? I didn't think you did. Check this. Do you know what the top health care industry CEO's in America make? You will be shocked when you read this.
U.S. poverty rates are the highest in 15 years. They were already pretty bad, but the Great Recession made things even worst. I spoke about this in a previous blog post titled, "US Poverty Rate Reaches 15-Year High, America's Poor Need Your Help, Especially During This Christmas".
In the U.S. we have our priorities backwards. We spend more on national defense than we spend on educating our children, feeding the poor and aged and providing decent healthcare for all American's. Every state is attacking their public school systems. Teachers are being laidoff in mass. How can America maintain its competitive edge if our kids are not adequately educated? My country is fighting three wars, if you count Libya. 175,000 troops are in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our military seem to be everywhere, and yet, most of those countries don't want us there. How many countries have 15 super carrier's? Stealth bombers and fighter jets? Intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear warheads? Who are we kidding. Nobody wants to really fight us, or they would've by now.
The 400 richest famlies in America now control 50% of the net worth of America. 3% of the wealthiest Americans control 90% of the wealth in America.
I really hate that infographic.
Courtesy of an article dated April 4, 2011 appearing in Fast Company Design
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