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{{#seo:
{{#seo:
|title=Curated News Gallery from all over the Web
|title=Income Inequality
|description=Curated news selected for its relevance, longevity and non-prescriptive content.  
|description=A look at what is behind income inequality and some solutions.
|keywords=BLM, black lives matter,Portland,federal forces,climate change,Ruth Bader Ginsberg,systemic racism,custom search engine,free classified ads
|keywords=income inequality, poor, low income, rich, one percent, investors, stocks, taxes, fees, wages, investments, profit, poverty,  
|image=https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2020/07/23/USAT/ee3a642b-9c02-403b-960f-cffaaef37a62-LaT.jpeg?width=1320&height=882&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp
|image=1949 one percenters.jpg
|image_width=300
|image_width=300
|image_height=200
|image_height=200
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<gallery mode="packed-hover">
<gallery mode="packed-hover">
Income Inequality Chart 1.png|[https://inequality.org/facts/income-inequality/ Income Inequality in the US]
Income Inequality Chart 1.png|[https://inequality.org/facts/income-inequality/ Income Inequality in the US]
Minimum wage rally.png|[https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/make-minimum-wage-equitable Rally for Minimum Wage]
1949 one percenters.jpg|[https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/tax-policy-history-by-for-1-percent/ From the 1920s to today, American tax policy has evolved to reflect one principle—the investor comes first—with disastrous implications for the rest of us]
Grocery Store.png|[https://www.commondreams.org/news/cbo-big-beautiful-bill CBO Confirms With Trump-GOP 'Big, Ugly Law,' Working Families Lose 'And Billionaires Win']
</gallery>
</gallery>
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'''Resources'''
[https://inequality.org/facts/income-inequality/ Income Inequality in the US.org]
==Articles==
===== The Biggest Political Con of the Last Century Unmasked: But Why?????? =====
[https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/5/21/2323602/-The-Biggest-Political-Con-of-the-Last-Century-Unmasked-But-Why?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web by thomhartmann 21/5/25 DAILY KOS]
Almost two-thirds of us Americans can’t afford the basic necessities of life, according to a new report from the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP) reported by CBS News. They point out that if unemployment numbers included the underemployed and those stuck in “poverty-wage jobs,” it would be around 24%, not the 4.2% recently reported, leading to an acknowledgement of a widespread misery that’s largely hidden by the way we currently calculate unemployment.
=====Why Did the Rich Pull Away from the Rest? Paul Krugman, Understanding Inequality: Part I=====
[https://stonecenter.gc.cuny.edu/why-did-the-rich-pull-away-from-the-rest-paul-krugman-understanding-inequality-part-i/ by Paul Krugman July 7, 2025 Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality]
Between World War II and the 1970s income disparities in America were relatively narrow. Some people were rich and many were poor, but overall inequality among Americans in terms of wealth, income and status was low enough that the country had a sense of shared prosperity. Things are very different today, as American society is beset by extreme inequality, economic fragmentation and class warfare.
What happened? The economic data show a huge widening of disparities in income and wealth starting around 1980, eventually undermining the relatively equal distribution of income we had from the ’40s to the ’70s. Moreover, growing disparities in income have led to growing disparities in political influence and the reemergence of what feels more and more like an oppressive class system.
=====The Importance of Worker Power. Paul Krugman, Understanding Inequality: Part II=====
[https://stonecenter.gc.cuny.edu/the-importance-of-worker-power-paul-krugman-understanding-inequality-part-ii/ by Paul Krugman July 14, 2025 Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality]
I’ll now begin to flesh out that argument. For the most part, however, today’s primer will be about the drivers of rising inequality between 1980 and 2000. Why stop there? Because I need more space and time to adequately discuss the effects of “financialization” and the rise of giant tech fortunes, which mostly kicked in after 2000 and accelerated the concentration of wealth at the very top. I’m well aware that these are also the factors driving today’s headlines. But the surge in inequality before 2000 set the stage for the oligarchic moment we’re now experiencing.
I’ll discuss the following:
1. Why power is key to the inequality story
2. Unions and why they matter
3. The rise of the imperial CEO
=====A Trumpian Diversion. Paul Krugman, Understanding Inequality: Part III=====
[https://stonecenter.gc.cuny.edu/a-trumpian-diversion-paul-krugman-understanding-inequality-part-iii/ by Paul Krugman July 21, 2025 Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality]
Last week I promised that this week’s entry in my series of inequality primers would focus on the surge of giant fortunes since 2000. I’m going to break that promise and delay that entry, for two reasons. First, I’m still doing the research: high-end wealth inequality is not an issue I’ve worked on personally, so I need to do a lot of reading and talk to some specialists before weighing in.
But second, I have something more topical to discuss. This past week the GC CUNY Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality, my academic base, held its annual workshop on Inequality by the Numbers. Mainly this involved research presentations by young scholars, but as an over-the-hill-guy academic statesman I was asked to give a relatively non-technical talk about stuff currently on my mind.
=====Oligarchs and the Rise of Mega-Fortunes. Paul Krugman, Understanding Inequality: Part IV=====
[https://stonecenter.gc.cuny.edu/oligarchs-and-the-rise-of-mega-fortunes-paul-krugman-understanding-inequality-part-iv/ by Paul Krugman July 28, 2025 Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality]
Who said this?
If there are men in this country big enough to own the government of the United States, they are going to own it; what we have to determine now is whether we are big enough, whether we are men enough, whether we are free enough, to take possession again of the government which is our own.
No, it wasn’t Bernie Sanders or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It’s a quote from The New Freedom, Woodrow Wilson’s campaign platform in the 1912 presidential election.
Wilson was a vile racist, even for his time, and his reputation has suffered appropriately. But he was also a progressive on economic policy. And I’ve always been struck by the fact that in the early 20th century a politician could declare that great concentrations of wealth were a threat to democracy without being considered a radical, un-American Marxist. Wilson won that election!
=====Predatory Financialization. Paul Krugman, Understanding Inequality: Part V=====
[https://stonecenter.gc.cuny.edu/predatory-financialization-paul-krugman-understanding-inequality-part-v/ by Paul Krugman August 4, 2025 Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality]
The fact is that financialization of the U.S. economy has been a major driver of rising inequality. What do I mean by financialization? Actually I mean two different but related things. One aspect is the extraordinary rise in the share of the U.S. economy devoted to financial activities as opposed to production of goods and services. A second is the pervasive way in which financiers and financial institutions like hedge funds and private equity have changed how even nonfinancial business operates. These changes have almost always increased inequality.
I will discuss the following:
1.The growth of the financial sector and what explains it
2.How growth in finance directly increases income and wealth inequality
3.How the increased role of Wall Street has changed the way the rest of the economy operates




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  The income tax cuts for the rich of the past 40 years were originally justified by economic arguments: Laffer’s rhetoric was seized upon by politicians. But to economists, his ideas were both familiar and trivial. Modern economics provides neither theory nor evidence proving the merit of these tax cuts. Both are ambiguous. Although politicians can ignore this truth for a while, it suggests that widespread opposition to higher taxes on the rich is ultimately based on reasons beyond economics.
  The income tax cuts for the rich of the past 40 years were originally justified by economic arguments: Laffer’s rhetoric was seized upon by politicians. But to economists, his ideas were both familiar and trivial. Modern economics provides neither theory nor evidence proving the merit of these tax cuts. Both are ambiguous. Although politicians can ignore this truth for a while, it suggests that widespread opposition to higher taxes on the rich is ultimately based on reasons beyond economics.


==Resources==
[https://inequality.org/facts/income-inequality/ Income Inequality in the US.org]
=====CBO Confirms With Trump-GOP 'Big, Ugly Law,' Working Families Lose 'And Billionaires Win'=====
=====CBO Confirms With Trump-GOP 'Big, Ugly Law,' Working Families Lose 'And Billionaires Win'=====
[https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/03/22/unfair-state-tax-codes-also-exacerbate- by Jessica Corbett 11/8/25 Common Dreams]
[https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/03/22/unfair-state-tax-codes-also-exacerbate- by Jessica Corbett 11/8/25 Common Dreams]
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  As author Daniel Yergin points out in the film (Episode Three: Chapter 18: The Global Divide), no economic system can survive for long without the confidence of the people who participate in it. Confidence in an economic system is shared among those who reap a benefit from it. The more widely distributed the economic benefit, the greater the legitimacy of the system and the stronger it stands. The distribution of benefits thus has political as well as material ramifications.
  As author Daniel Yergin points out in the film (Episode Three: Chapter 18: The Global Divide), no economic system can survive for long without the confidence of the people who participate in it. Confidence in an economic system is shared among those who reap a benefit from it. The more widely distributed the economic benefit, the greater the legitimacy of the system and the stronger it stands. The distribution of benefits thus has political as well as material ramifications.
=====CBO Confirms With Trump-GOP 'Big, Ugly Law,' Working Families Lose 'And Billionaires Win'=====
=====CBO Confirms With Trump-GOP 'Big, Ugly Law,' Working Families Lose 'And Billionaires Win'=====
[https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/06/12/research-shows-linking-climate-policy-social- by Jessica Corbett 11/8/25 Common Dreams]
[https://www.commondreams.org/news/cbo-big-beautiful-bill by Jessica Corbett 11/8/25 Common Dreams]
  "This isn't shared sacrifice—it's class warfare," said one policy expert.
  "This isn't shared sacrifice—it's class warfare," said one policy expert.
=====Why Robert Reich Cares so Passionately about Economic Inequality=====
=====Why Robert Reich Cares so Passionately about Economic Inequality=====
[https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/why-robert-reich-cares-so-passionately-about-economic-inequality by Robert Reich 15/10/13 PBS NEWS]
[https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/why-robert-reich-cares-so-passionately-about-economic-inequality by Robert Reich 15/10/13 PBS NEWS]
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[https://www.intereconomics.eu/contents/year/2020/number/1/article/the-politics-of-american-inequality.html by Jaehee Choi, James K. Galbraith Interconomics]
[https://www.intereconomics.eu/contents/year/2020/number/1/article/the-politics-of-american-inequality.html by Jaehee Choi, James K. Galbraith Interconomics]
  Rising economic inequality in the United States is closely tied to the high concentration of capital asset ownership, especially corporate stocks and real estate, and to increases in the price of those assets in recent decades. These in turn are closely related to the structural transformation of the economy over 50 years, especially the decline of unionized manufacturing in the Midwest and the rise of finance on the East coast and of the technology sector – mainly information and aerospace – in the West.
  Rising economic inequality in the United States is closely tied to the high concentration of capital asset ownership, especially corporate stocks and real estate, and to increases in the price of those assets in recent decades. These in turn are closely related to the structural transformation of the economy over 50 years, especially the decline of unionized manufacturing in the Midwest and the rise of finance on the East coast and of the technology sector – mainly information and aerospace – in the West.
=====Corporations are fuelling inequality. Here's how=====
[https://www.weforum.org/stories/2024/01/corporations-fuelling-inequality-economy-profits/ by Amitabh Behar WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM]
The problems in the world today are daunting. Many countries are locked in conflict; the frequency of extreme weather events is on the rise and, every day, we see the distress of families who have lost everything. Millions of people are still grappling with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic while contending with escalating cost of living. Five billion people are poorer than they were in 2020.
=====Neoliberal Policies, Institutions Have Prompted Preference for Greater Inequality, New Study Finds=====
[https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2022/may/neoliberal-policies--institutions-have-prompted-preference-for-g.html by 11/5/22 NYU]
Neoliberalism, which calls for free-market capitalism, regressive taxation, and the elimination of social services, has resulted in both preference and support for greater income inequality over the past 25 years, shows a new study by a team of psychology researchers.
=====What different ways can policy-makers address inequality?=====
[https://www.economicsobservatory.com/what-different-ways-can-policy-makers-address-inequality by Stefanie Stantcheva 27/7/21 Economics Observatory]
Economic and social inequalities take many forms: many have been widened by Covid-19. Across the income distribution, consumption, savings, job losses and the opportunities for remote work have evolved very differently. Across genders and between parents and those without children, the toll of school closures, lack of childcare and additional housework has been uneven. And across regions, sectors and occupations, the pandemic has brought vastly different burdens.
=====Income inequality is the difference in how income is distributed among the population.=====
[https://www.oecd.org/en/data/indicators/income-inequality.html by Income Inequality]
Income is defined as household disposable income in a particular year. It consists of earnings, self-employment and capital income and public cash transfers however, income taxes and social security contributions paid by households are deducted. Inequality is also described as the gap between rich and poor, income inequality, wealth disparity, wealth and income differences, or the wealth gap.
=====Poverty, Income Inequality and Economic Growth=====
[https://www.economicshelp.org/macroeconomics/inequality/poverty-inequality-economic-growth/ by  Tejvan Pettinger 28/11/16 ECONOMICS]
Economic growth means an increase in national income, but does economic growth actually help to reduce relative poverty and income inequality – or can economic growth exacerbate existing income inequalities?
=====Economic inequality leads to democratic erosion, study finds=====
[https://news.uchicago.edu/story/economic-inequality-leads-democratic-erosion-study-finds by Sarah Steimer 17/1/25 Uchicago]
Political commentators, academics and others have been wringing their hands over threats to democracy in recent years. A new study helps us better understand one of the possible driving forces behind the erosion of democratic norms and institutions: economic inequality.
=====How political ideas keep economic inequality going=====
[https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/03/pikettys-new-book-explores-how-economic-inequality-is-perpetuated/ by Christina Pazzanese 3/3/20 The Harvard Gazette]
As the gulf between the haves and the have nots continues to widen, the roiling debate over economic inequality has become a political prime mover in the U.S. and across Europe. French economist Thomas Piketty’s 2013 landmark analysis of Western economic inequality, “Capital in the 21st Century,” became a must-read in both popular and academic circles. Now, he’s back with “Capital and Ideology” (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2020), a global look at the history of the problem, how institutions and ideologies reinforce it, and how it can be remedied.
=====Income Inequality 101: Causes, Facts, Examples, Ways to Take Action=====
[https://www.humanrightscareers.com/issues/income-inequality-causes-facts-examples/ by HUMAN RIGHS CAREERS]
Income inequality is a global issue with several causes, including historical racism, unequal land distribution, high inflation, and stagnant wages. As gaps increase thanks to crises like COVID-19, the world needs to take action in education, labor market policies, tax reforms, and higher wages.
=====To Fight Inequality, America Needs to Rethink Its Economic Model=====
[https://time.com/6977602/america-economy-inequality-essay/ by Daniel Chandler 14/5/24 TIME]
The recent revival of industrial policy, championed by President Biden, is a clear repudiation of the first of these beliefs. It reflects a growing recognition among economists that state intervention to shape markets and steer investment is crucial for fostering innovation, protecting strategically important sectors like semi-conductors, and tackling the climate emergency.
=====5 Facts About Rising Income Inequality in the United States=====
[https://www.pgpf.org/article/5-facts-about-rising-income-inequality-in-the-united-states/ by PETER G.PETERSON FOUNDATION]
Over the past four decades, average household income grew by 95 percent after adjusting for inflation; however, that growth largely stems from earners in the top part of the income-distribution. Average income in the highest quintile was 165 percent higher in 2021 than it was in 1981 — over four times the growth of average income in the lowest quintile (38 percent over the period). Meanwhile, the median household income grew by just 33 percent. Those statistics do not account for the effect of taxes or transfer programs such as Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; such programs provide cash payments or other forms of assistance to people with relatively low income or few assets.
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