Income Inequality: Difference between revisions

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{{#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,

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|image=1949 one percenters.jpg

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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']

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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.

~~==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'=====

[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.

=====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.

=====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]

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[https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/12/mayor-national-guard-washington-dc by David Smith 12/8/25 The Guardian]

Speaking after a meeting with the attorney general, Pam Bondi, at the justice department, Bowser told reporters: “I won’t go into the details of our operational plan at this point but you will see the Metropolitan police department (MPD) working side by side with our federal partners in order to enforce the effort that we need around the city.”

=====Student Debt is a Racial Justice Issue. Here’s What President Biden Can Do to Help.=====

[https://www.aclu.org/news/racial-justice/student-debt-is-a-racial-justice-issue-heres-what-president-biden-can-do-to-help by Rakim Brooks 30/3/21 ACLU]

Higher education has long been held as a critical gateway to getting a job and achieving economic stability and mobility. But because of long-standing systemic racial discrimination, Black families have far less wealth to draw on to pay for college, creating barriers for Black communities to access higher education and build wealth. Black families are more likely to borrow, to borrow more, and to have trouble in repayment. Two decades after taking out their student loans, the median Black borrower still owes 95 percent of their debt, whereas the median white borrower has paid off 94 percent of their debt.

=====Less Work, More Time=====

[https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/less-work-more-time-universal-basic-income-feminist-utopia/ by Madeleine Schwartz 25/9/15 DISSENT]

Neither option on its own is desirable; together, they are unbearable. Life shouldn’t be reduced to a balance between waged work and housework, a balance between work and work. Instead, if we are concerned about fixing the “time bind,” we should do the unimaginable: ask for more time.

=====Juneteenth and the Need for a Reimagined, More Progressive Tax Code=====

[https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/juneteenth-economic-inequality by Brakeyshia Samms 18/6/24 Common Dreams]

Though Black Americans are no longer taxed as property, their relationship with the property tax system remains challenging. Today, for instance, Black families pay more property taxes than white Americans who own comparable properties. Black people went from being literally taxed as property to being slighted by the property tax system – perpetuating deep economic inequality for a group of people who have always suffered on the soil of this land.

=====Why economists say falling inflation isn’t enough to relieve stress about the U.S. economy=====

[https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/why-economists-say-falling-inflation-isnt-enough-to-relieve-stress-about-the-u-s-economy by Christopher Rugaber 20/11/23 PBS NEWS]

Last week, the government reported that consumer prices didn’t rise at all from September to October, the latest sign that inflation is steadily cooling from the heights of last year. A separate report showed that while Americans slowed their retail purchases in October from the previous month’s brisk pace, they’re still spending enough to drive economic growth.

=====Amid systemic inequality, U.S. salaries recover even as jobs haven’t=====

[https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/a-sign-of-stubborn-inequality-u-s-salaries-recover-even-as-jobs-havent by Christopher Rugaber 12/2/21 PBS NEWS]

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a stark sign of the economic inequality that has marked the pandemic recession and recovery, Americans as a whole are now earning the same amount in wages and salaries that they did before the virus struck — even with nearly 9 million fewer people working.

=====Instead of Blaming Policymakers for High Prices, Thank Them for High Wages=====

[https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/inflation-wage-growth-policy by Josh Bivens 10/10/24 Common Dreams]

This labor market strength was also 100% a policy choice. Unlike previous business cycles, policymakers passed fiscal relief and recovery measures at the scale of the shock, and it proved that low unemployment could be restored very quickly after recessions so long as this policy lever was pulled with enough force.

=====Economic Inequality Continued To Rise In The U.S. After The Great Recession=====

[https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/economic-inequality-continued-to-rise-in-the-u-s-after-the-great-recession/ by Ben Casselman 4/9/14 FiveThirtyEight]

In the three years following the end of the Great Recession, the typical American family’s income declined 5 percent, its wealth fell 2 percent, it saved no more for retirement, and it was saddled with even more student debt. The only households to see income gains were the highest earners, and the gap between the wealthiest and the poorest widened.

=====The Rising Costs of U.S. Income Inequality=====

[https://www.huffpost.com/entry/us-income-inequality-costs_b_6249904 by Laura Tyson 1/12/14 HUFFPOST]

Underlying the country's soaring inequality is income stagnation for the majority of Americans. With an expanding share of the gains from economic growth flowing to a tiny fraction of high-income U.S. households, average family income for the bottom 90 percent has been flat since 1980.

=====Jamie Dimon on how economic inequality fueled political polarization and what can be done=====

[https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/jamie-dimon-on-how-economic-inequality-fueled-political-polarization-and-what-can-be-done by Judy Woodruff 14/8/24 PBS NEWS]

From trade to diversity to immigration, many U.S. corporations are navigating a divisive political climate on a range of issues that impact their businesses. The CEO of the nation’s largest bank, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, has been speaking out about some of these. Judy Woodruff spoke with him in Bentonville, Arkansas, for her series, America at a Crossroads.

=====Radical Taxation=====

[https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/radical-taxation/ by Vanessa Williamson 2022 DISSENT]

This spring, legislators of both parties, from Connecticut to Georgia, responded to higher energy prices with “gas tax holidays,” temporary tax reductions for consumers that provide an additional windfall to the immensely profitable fossil fuel industry at precisely the moment when we should be ending the global warming economy. Thirty-six years after Grover Norquist first introduced the “taxpayer protection pledge”—by which thousands of legislators have committed to oppose all tax increases—American policymaking remains trapped in an anti-tax paradigm that leaves us unable to cope with the crises we face.

=====Higher Rates Of Hate Crimes Are Tied To Income Inequality=====

[https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/higher-rates-of-hate-crimes-are-tied-to-income-inequality/ by Maimuna Majumder 23/1/17 FiveThirtyEight]

The numbers we have are tricky; the data is limited by how it’s collected and can’t definitively tell us whether there were more hate incidents in the days after the election than is typical. What we can do, however, is look for trends within the numbers, such as how hate crimes vary by state, as well as what factors within those states might be tied to hate crime rates.

=====Full Employment and the Path to Shared Prosperity=====

[https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/full-employment-and-the-path-to-shared-prosperity/ by Dean Baker and Jared Bernstein 17/11/11 DISSENT]

Levels of unemployment are not the gift or curse of the gods; they are the result of conscious economic policy. The decision to tolerate high rates of unemployment is a choice. It is one that has enormous implications not just for the millions of people who are needlessly unemployed or underemployed but also for tens of millions of workers in the bottom half of the wage distribution whose bar-gaining power is undermined by high unemployment.

=====Poverty Doesn’t Make You Racist=====

[https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/poverty-doesnt-make-you-racist/ by Nathan Newman 26/6/19 DISSENT]

Reaching the second group while maintaining a commitment to racial equality will be hard in the short term. But in contrast to the media stereotype of the Trump base—downwardly mobile, poor, and/or working-class people seduced by racist appeals—it turns out that white voters who support anti-racist policies generally have less income than their more racist peers, as data released recently from the General Social Survey makes clear.

=====10 Years of Economic Loss and Recovery=====

[https://unidosus.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/unidosus_latinosgreatression.pdf by UNIDOS US]

UnidosUS, previously known as NCLR

(National Council of La Raza), is the nation’s

largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy

organization. Through its unique combination

of expert research, advocacy, programs,

and an Affiliate Network of nearly 300

community-based organizations across the

United States and Puerto Rico, UnidosUS

simultaneously challenges the social,

economic, and political barriers that affect

Latinos at the national and local levels

=====How Inequality Distorts Economics=====

[https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/how-inequality-distorts-economics/ by Fred Block 2021 DISSENT]

One of the urgent challenges facing the Biden administration is reversing the ever-worsening maldistribution of wealth. The more billionaires we have, and the more zeroes added to the net worth of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg, the less there is for everyone else.

=====Migration and development=====

[https://www.iom.int/sites/g/files/tmzbdl2616/files/2018-07/TP4.pdf by Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah 9/05 GLOBAL MISSION ON INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION]

These mutual impacts are often in sharpest relief in the context of economic development.

Here, what we might call the ‘development-migration-development’ nexus becomes of great

interest. Put simply, we know that migration is often motivated by relative disparities in the

economic development of sending and receiving countries (though generally not in the case of

those move to seek political asylum).

=====Bandage on a Bullet Wound=====

[https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/09/25/bandage-bullet-wound/imf-social-spending-floors-and-covid-19-pandemic by HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 25/9/23]

As the Covid-19 virus began to spread, shuttering businesses and upending economies, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, saw opportunity in the recovery from the unraveling crisis. Georgieva had already identified income and wealth inequality as a central challenge facing the global economy.

=====Systemic Equality: Equal Access, Better Futures=====

[https://www.aclu.org/campaigns-initiatives/systemic-equality-addressing-americas-legacy-of-racism-and-systemic-discrimination by ACLU 4/9/24]

Since our nation’s founding, discriminatory policies and laws have created an unequal system in which Black communities have had their civil rights and liberties denied and have been systematically locked out of opportunities in education, housing, employment and more.

=====Six policies to reduce economic inequality=====

[https://belonging.berkeley.edu/six-policies-reduce-economic-inequality by john a. powell 10/9/14 Othering & Belonging Institute]

Following the Inequality Policy Brief, here are six ways to minimize the rising economic inequality prevalent in the United States. Haas Institute Director john a. powell discusses why these policies will work in slowing the growth in inequality.

Almost three years to the date since Occupy Wall Street first raised the consciousness of Americans about the wide economic disparities between the richest one percent versus the 99 percent of U.S. earners, new Federal Reserve data confirms that wealth and income inequality in the U.S. is accelerating.

=====Government Policies to Reduce Income Inequality=====

[https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-oldwestbury-publicfinanceandpublicpolicy/chapter/government-policies-to-reduce-income-inequality/ by lumen]

No society should expect or desire complete equality of income at a given point in time, for a number of reasons. First, most workers receive relatively low earnings in their first few jobs, higher earnings as they reach middle age, and then lower earnings after retirement. Thus, a society with people of varying ages will have a certain amount of income inequality. Second, people’s preferences and desires differ. Some are willing to work long hours to have income for large houses, fast cars and computers, luxury vacations, and the ability to support children and grandchildren.

=====Spreading the Wealth=====

[https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2018/03/bourguignon by INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 3/18]

After years of quasi-neglect, economic inequality has taken center stage in the policy debate worldwide. In advanced economies, the apparent impact of globalization and technological change and the cost of counteracting these forces is raising concern.

=====Policy cocktails: Attacking the roots of persistent inequality=====

[https://siepr.stanford.edu/publications/policy-brief/policy-cocktails-attacking-roots-persistent-inequality by Matthew O. Jackson 5/21 Stanford]

Patterns of inequality are a manifestation of major barriers faced by millions in finding paths from poverty to middle- or upper-class lives. They often lack not only financial capital but also a vital form of social capital: information about and access to the educational and employment opportunities necessary to break the cross-generation perpetuation of economic immobility.

=====Income Inequality in the United States=====

[https://inequality.org/facts/income-inequality/ by INEQUALITY]

Income includes the revenue streams from wages, salaries, interest on a savings account, dividends from shares of stock, rent, and profits from selling something for more than you paid for it. Unlike wealth statistics, income figures do not include the value of homes, stock, or other possessions. Income inequality refers to the extent to which income is distributed in an uneven manner among a population.

=====Rising inequality: A major issue of our time=====

[https://www.brookings.edu/articles/rising-inequality-a-major-issue-of-our-time/ by Zia Qureshi 16/5/23 BROOKINGS]

Current inequality levels are high. Contemporary global inequalities are close to the peak levels observed in the early 20th century, at the end of the prewar era (variously described as the Belle Époque or the Gilded Age) that saw sharp increases in global inequality.

=====A Guide to Statistics on Historical Trends in Income Inequality=====

[https://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-inequality/a-guide-to-statistics-on-historical-trends-in-income-inequality by Arloc Sherman 11/12/24 Center On Budget and Policy Priorities]

This guide consists of four sections. The first describes the commonly used sources and statistics on income and discusses their relative strengths and limitations for understanding income trends.

=====Policy Implications from Rising Economic Inequality=====

[https://econofact.org/policy-implications-from-rising-economic-inequality by Kimberly Clausing and Hilary Hoynes 13/11/18 ECONOFACT]

A marked increase in income inequality has been a defining characteristic of the U.S. economy of the past several decades. Progressive tax policy and a social safety net that invests in those at the bottom of the income distribution play a role in mitigating widening inequality in the United States.

=====Legal Milestones That Fight Income Inequality=====

[https://www.investopedia.com/legal-milestones-that-fight-inequality-5116659 by Daniel Thomas Mollenkamp 4/4/24 Investopedia]

Income inequality in the U.S. is particularly high for a developed economy. At numerous times during its history, the country has attempted to address the issue through policy, legislation, and judicial decisions. This has included efforts to promote equal pay, to prevent discrimination, and to deal with other types of bias that can foster inequality. Though income inequality persists, previous milestones may provide a roadmap for future attempts to address the matter.

=====How do taxes affect income inequality?=====

[https://taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-do-taxes-affect-income-inequality by TAX POLICY CENTER]

The US federal tax system mitigates income inequality. High-income households pay a larger share of their income in total federal taxes than low-income households (figure 2). State and local taxes, which are not included in this analysis, are much less progressive and some, such as sales taxes, are regressive (low-income households pay a higher share of their income in sales taxes than high-income households).

=====Inequality’s drag on aggregate demand=====

[https://www.epi.org/publication/inequalitys-drag-on-aggregate-demand/ by Josh Bivens and Asha Banerjee 24/5/22 Economic Policy Institute]

Rising inequality has had serious economic and fiscal effects. Key among them: It has hurt economic growth. By 2018, the rise in income inequality since 1979 was reducing growth in aggregate demand by about 1.5% of GDP.

=====Reduce Extreme Economic Inequality=====

[https://grandchallengesforsocialwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/240730-Economic-Inequality_PB_final.pdf by Grand Challenges]

This brief presents a new set of recommendations for reducing extreme economic divides,

adding to earlier recommendations posed as part of the Grand Challenge.1 In this brief, we

focus on interventions with popular or political momentum, including newer ideas, such as

innovative ways to support entrepreneurship, as well as longstanding ideas with new

evidence or action such as basic income.

=====ECONOMIC GROWTH AND INCOME INEQUALITY=====

[https://assets.aeaweb.org/asset-server/files/9438.pdf by SIMON KUZNETS 3/1955 The American Economic Review]

The central theme of this paper is the character and causes of longterm changes in the personal distribution of income. Does inequality

in the distribution of income increase or decrease in the course of a

country's economic growth? What factors determine the secular level

and trends of income inequalities?

=====What Is Economic Inequality?=====

[https://education.cfr.org/learn/learning-journey/forms-government-change/what-is-economic-inequality by CFR Education 9/6/25]

Institutions like the United Nations have prioritized reducing economic inequality given that it can fuel democratic backsliding, influence migration, hamper economic growth, and exacerbate health crises. However, no one-size-fits-all solution exists to address this problem. And not everyone agrees inequality is a major cause for concern in the first place.

=====Regulation and income inequality in the United States=====

[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0176268021000872 by Dustin Chambers 3/22 ScienceDirect]

Income inequality in the United States has risen over the past several decades. Over the same period, federal regulatory restrictions have increased. An emerging literature shows that regulations can have regressive effects on the distribution of income, exacerbating inequality. The Federal Regulation and State Enterprise (FRASE) index quantifies the regulatory restrictions that apply to each US state by industrial composition.

=====Income Inequality and Global Political Polarization: The Economic Origin of Political Polarization in the World=====

[https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8608558/ by J Chin Polit Sci NIH]

Both income inequality and political polarization have increased dramatically in much of the world over the past few decades. One might wonder how these two phenomena correlate with each other. Are there any striking similarities in the correlated patterns of income inequality and polarization across the globe?

=====The facts about global wealth inequality=====

[https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/issues/economic-justice/income-and-wealth-inequality/ by Oxfam 1/11/24]

The truth is that very poor people have seen their wealth increase modestly, while the very wealthy have made fantastic gains. This means inequality is on the rise within many individual countries.

=====Most Americans Say There Is Too Much Economic Inequality in the U.S., but Fewer Than Half Call It a Top Priority=====

[https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/01/09/trends-in-income-and-wealth-inequality/ by

Juliana Menasce Horowitz 9/1/20 Pew Research Center]

Barely 10 years past the end of the Great Recession in 2009, the U.S. economy is doing well on several fronts. The labor market is on a job-creating streak that has rung up more than 110 months straight of employment growth, a record for the post-World War II era. The unemployment rate in November 2019 was 3.5%, a level not seen since the 1960s. Gains on the jobs front are also reflected in household incomes, which have rebounded in recent years.

=====Income Inequality in California=====

[https://www.ppic.org/publication/income-inequality-in-california/ by Tess Thorman and Daniel Payares-Montoya 3/25 PPIC]

In 2023 (the most recent data available), families at the top of the income distribution—the 90th percentile—earned 11 times more than families at the 10th percentile ($336,000 vs. $30,000, respectively). Only two other states had wider income gaps.

=====Designing economic policy that strengthens U.S. democracy and incorporates people’s lived experiences=====

[https://equitablegrowth.org/designing-economic-policy-that-strengthens-u-s-democracy-and-incorporates-peoples-lived-experiences/ by Alexander Hertel-Fernandez,Shayna Strom 30/4/25 Washington Center for Equitable Growth]

Around the globe, people are increasingly dissatisfied with the state of democratic capitalism. In the United States and other rich democracies, economic policy has too often in recent decades produced rising economic inequality across individuals, as well as regions within countries, stagnant economic growth and innovation, rising costs of essential goods and services such as housing, health care, and education, greater economic insecurity, and declining job quality and stability.

=====Rising Economic Inequality in the US: Key Statistics and Root Causes=====

[https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/mje/2022/02/08/rising-economic-inequality-in-the-us-key-statistics-and-root-causes/ by Malak Kalasho ME]

Since its beginning, the United States has prided itself on being the land of opportunity, a place in which all individuals have the opportunity to succeed. Many people continue to refer to it as such, but a closer look at wealth and income distribution in the U.S. tells a different story. To the extent to which success depends on economic status and mobility, the notion that the U.S. is still the land of opportunity is simply false.

=====Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries=====

[https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/inequality/ by SUSTAINABLE DEVWLOPMENT GOALS]

The incomes of the poorest 40 per cent of the population had been growing faster than the national average in most countries. But emerging yet inconclusive evidence suggests that COVID-19 may have put a dent in this positive trend of falling within-country inequality.

=====6 Policies to Combat Inequality=====

[https://www.americanprogress.org/article/6-policies-to-combat-inequality/ by Ben Olinsky 28/1/14 CAP]

When President Barack Obama gives his State of the Union address Tuesday, it is widely expected that he will focus on income inequality, making it a top-of-the-agenda item for this year and the remainder of his term. In his December speech hosted by the Center for American Progress, the president likely offered a preview of his message as he argued that a strong middle class helps drive economic growth

=====Income Inequality & Monopoly=====

[https://www.openmarketsinstitute.org/learn/income-inequality-monopoly by OPEN MARKETS]

America is more unequal than it has been in a century. The richest 0.1 percent of American families own as much wealth as the lower 90 percent of all American families combined. Between 1979 and 2007, the richest one percent took in 53.9 percent of all income growth. And wealth inequality grew even more dramatic in the wake of the great recession. The richest 7 percent expanded their average neat worth by more than 25 percent between 2009 and 2011, and whites claimed an even larger proportion of American wealth relative to Blacks and Hispanics.

=====Should Equity Be a Goal of Economic Policy?=====

[https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/issues/issues16/ by International Monetary Fund]

The Economic Issues series aims to make available to a broad readership of nonspecialists some of the economic research being produced on topical issues by IMF staff. The series draws mainly from IMF Working Papers, which are technical papers produced by IMF staff members and visiting scholars, as well as from policy-related research papers.

=====Why We Have Trouble Supporting Greater Income Equality=====

[https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_we_have_trouble_supporting_greater_income_equality by Jill Suttie 12/6/25 POLITICS]

According to data from the Congressional Budget Office, wealth inequality has been rising steeply in the United States over the last 30 years. This gap between rich and poor means that the top 1% of earners now own nearly 30% of the total wealth in the country, with the bottom 50% owning only 4% of that wealth.

=====Income and wages=====

[https://www.epi.org/research/income-and-wages/ by Economic Policy Institute]

The House Republicans’ plan to cut Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for the rich would slash incomes for the bottom 40%

=====The Politics of American Inequality=====

[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.

=====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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 {{#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_height=200
@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 <gallery mode="packed-hover">
 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]
+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>
+See improvements you could make on this page?
+Go ahead [[Special:CreateAccount|become a member]] and make your changes
+'''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:
+. Why power is key to the inequality story
+. Unions and why they matter
+. 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:
+.The growth of the financial sector and what explains it
+.How growth in finance directly increases income and wealth inequality
+.How the increased role of Wall Street has changed the way the rest of the economy operates
@@ Line 20: / Line 77: @@
   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'=====
 [https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/03/22/unfair-state-tax-codes-also-exacerbate- by Jessica Corbett 11/8/25 Common Dreams]
@@ Line 138: / Line 193: @@
   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'=====
-[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.
 =====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]
@@ Line 446: / Line 502: @@
 [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/12/mayor-national-guard-washington-dc by David Smith  12/8/25 The Guardian]
   Speaking after a meeting with the attorney general, Pam Bondi, at the justice department, Bowser told reporters: “I won’t go into the details of our operational plan at this point but you will see the Metropolitan police department (MPD) working side by side with our federal partners in order to enforce the effort that we need around the city.”
+=====Student Debt is a Racial Justice Issue. Here’s What President Biden Can Do to Help.=====
+[https://www.aclu.org/news/racial-justice/student-debt-is-a-racial-justice-issue-heres-what-president-biden-can-do-to-help by Rakim Brooks 30/3/21 ACLU]
+ Higher education has long been held as a critical gateway to getting a job and achieving economic stability and mobility. But because of long-standing systemic racial discrimination, Black families have far less wealth to draw on to pay for college, creating barriers for Black communities to access higher education and build wealth. Black families are more likely to borrow, to borrow more, and to have trouble in repayment. Two decades after taking out their student loans, the median Black borrower still owes 95 percent of their debt, whereas the median white borrower has paid off 94 percent of their debt.
+=====Less Work, More Time=====
+[https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/less-work-more-time-universal-basic-income-feminist-utopia/ by Madeleine Schwartz 25/9/15 DISSENT]
+ Neither option on its own is desirable; together, they are unbearable. Life shouldn’t be reduced to a balance between waged work and housework, a balance between work and work. Instead, if we are concerned about fixing the “time bind,” we should do the unimaginable: ask for more time.
+=====Juneteenth and the Need for a Reimagined, More Progressive Tax Code=====
+[https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/juneteenth-economic-inequality by Brakeyshia Samms 18/6/24 Common Dreams]
+ Though Black Americans are no longer taxed as property, their relationship with the property tax system remains challenging. Today, for instance, Black families pay more property taxes than white Americans who own comparable properties. Black people went from being literally taxed as property to being slighted by the property tax system – perpetuating deep economic inequality for a group of people who have always suffered on the soil of this land.
+=====Why economists say falling inflation isn’t enough to relieve stress about the U.S. economy=====
+[https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/why-economists-say-falling-inflation-isnt-enough-to-relieve-stress-about-the-u-s-economy by Christopher Rugaber 20/11/23 PBS NEWS]
+ Last week, the government reported that consumer prices didn’t rise at all from September to October, the latest sign that inflation is steadily cooling from the heights of last year. A separate report showed that while Americans slowed their retail purchases in October from the previous month’s brisk pace, they’re still spending enough to drive economic growth.
+=====Amid systemic inequality, U.S. salaries recover even as jobs haven’t=====
+[https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/a-sign-of-stubborn-inequality-u-s-salaries-recover-even-as-jobs-havent by Christopher Rugaber 12/2/21 PBS NEWS]
+ WASHINGTON (AP) — In a stark sign of the economic inequality that has marked the pandemic recession and recovery, Americans as a whole are now earning the same amount in wages and salaries that they did before the virus struck — even with nearly 9 million fewer people working.
+=====Instead of Blaming Policymakers for High Prices, Thank Them for High Wages=====
+[https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/inflation-wage-growth-policy by Josh Bivens 10/10/24 Common Dreams]
+ This labor market strength was also 100% a policy choice. Unlike previous business cycles, policymakers passed fiscal relief and recovery measures at the scale of the shock, and it proved that low unemployment could be restored very quickly after recessions so long as this policy lever was pulled with enough force.
+=====Economic Inequality Continued To Rise In The U.S. After The Great Recession=====
+[https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/economic-inequality-continued-to-rise-in-the-u-s-after-the-great-recession/ by Ben Casselman 4/9/14 FiveThirtyEight]
+ In the three years following the end of the Great Recession, the typical American family’s income declined 5 percent, its wealth fell 2 percent, it saved no more for retirement, and it was saddled with even more student debt. The only households to see income gains were the highest earners, and the gap between the wealthiest and the poorest widened.
+=====The Rising Costs of U.S. Income Inequality=====
+[https://www.huffpost.com/entry/us-income-inequality-costs_b_6249904 by Laura Tyson 1/12/14 HUFFPOST]
+ Underlying the country's soaring inequality is income stagnation for the majority of Americans. With an expanding share of the gains from economic growth flowing to a tiny fraction of high-income U.S. households, average family income for the bottom 90 percent has been flat since 1980.
+=====Jamie Dimon on how economic inequality fueled political polarization and what can be done=====
+[https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/jamie-dimon-on-how-economic-inequality-fueled-political-polarization-and-what-can-be-done by Judy Woodruff 14/8/24 PBS NEWS]
+ From trade to diversity to immigration, many U.S. corporations are navigating a divisive political climate on a range of issues that impact their businesses. The CEO of the nation’s largest bank, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, has been speaking out about some of these. Judy Woodruff spoke with him in Bentonville, Arkansas, for her series, America at a Crossroads.
+=====Radical Taxation=====
+[https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/radical-taxation/ by Vanessa Williamson 2022 DISSENT]
+ This spring, legislators of both parties, from Connecticut to Georgia, responded to higher energy prices with “gas tax holidays,” temporary tax reductions for consumers that provide an additional windfall to the immensely profitable fossil fuel industry at precisely the moment when we should be ending the global warming economy. Thirty-six years after Grover Norquist first introduced the “taxpayer protection pledge”—by which thousands of legislators have committed to oppose all tax increases—American policymaking remains trapped in an anti-tax paradigm that leaves us unable to cope with the crises we face.
+=====Higher Rates Of Hate Crimes Are Tied To Income Inequality=====
+[https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/higher-rates-of-hate-crimes-are-tied-to-income-inequality/ by Maimuna Majumder 23/1/17 FiveThirtyEight]
+ The numbers we have are tricky; the data is limited by how it’s collected and can’t definitively tell us whether there were more hate incidents in the days after the election than is typical. What we can do, however, is look for trends within the numbers, such as how hate crimes vary by state, as well as what factors within those states might be tied to hate crime rates.
+=====Full Employment and the Path to Shared Prosperity=====
+[https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/full-employment-and-the-path-to-shared-prosperity/ by Dean Baker and Jared Bernstein 17/11/11 DISSENT]
+ Levels of unemployment are not the gift or curse of the gods; they are the result of conscious economic policy. The decision to tolerate high rates of unemployment is a choice. It is one that has enormous implications not just for the millions of people who are needlessly unemployed or underemployed but also for tens of millions of workers in the bottom half of the wage distribution whose bar-gaining power is undermined by high unemployment.
+=====Poverty Doesn’t Make You Racist=====
+[https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/poverty-doesnt-make-you-racist/ by Nathan Newman 26/6/19 DISSENT]
+ Reaching the second group while maintaining a commitment to racial equality will be hard in the short term. But in contrast to the media stereotype of the Trump base—downwardly mobile, poor, and/or working-class people seduced by racist appeals—it turns out that white voters who support anti-racist policies generally have less income than their more racist peers, as data released recently from the General Social Survey makes clear.
+=====10 Years of Economic Loss and Recovery=====
+[https://unidosus.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/unidosus_latinosgreatression.pdf by UNIDOS US]
+ UnidosUS, previously known as NCLR
+(National Council of La Raza), is the nation’s
+largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy
+organization. Through its unique combination
+of expert research, advocacy, programs,
+and an Affiliate Network of nearly 300
+community-based organizations across the
+United States and Puerto Rico, UnidosUS
+simultaneously challenges the social,
+economic, and political barriers that affect
+Latinos at the national and local levels
+=====How Inequality Distorts Economics=====
+[https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/how-inequality-distorts-economics/ by Fred Block 2021 DISSENT]
+ One of the urgent challenges facing the Biden administration is reversing the ever-worsening maldistribution of wealth. The more billionaires we have, and the more zeroes added to the net worth of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg, the less there is for everyone else.
+=====Migration and development=====
+[https://www.iom.int/sites/g/files/tmzbdl2616/files/2018-07/TP4.pdf by Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah 9/05 GLOBAL MISSION ON INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION]
+ These mutual impacts are often in sharpest relief in the context of economic development.
+Here, what we might call the ‘development-migration-development’ nexus becomes of great
+interest. Put simply, we know that migration is often motivated by relative disparities in the
+economic development of sending and receiving countries (though generally not in the case of
+those move to seek political asylum).
+=====Bandage on a Bullet Wound=====
+[https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/09/25/bandage-bullet-wound/imf-social-spending-floors-and-covid-19-pandemic by HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 25/9/23]
+ As the Covid-19 virus began to spread, shuttering businesses and upending economies, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, saw opportunity in the recovery from the unraveling crisis. Georgieva had already identified income and wealth inequality as a central challenge facing the global economy.
+=====Systemic Equality: Equal Access, Better Futures=====
+[https://www.aclu.org/campaigns-initiatives/systemic-equality-addressing-americas-legacy-of-racism-and-systemic-discrimination by ACLU 4/9/24]
+ Since our nation’s founding, discriminatory policies and laws have created an unequal system in which Black communities have had their civil rights and liberties denied and have been systematically locked out of opportunities in education, housing, employment and more.
+=====Six policies to reduce economic inequality=====
+[https://belonging.berkeley.edu/six-policies-reduce-economic-inequality by john a. powell 10/9/14 Othering & Belonging Institute]
+ Following the Inequality Policy Brief, here are six ways to minimize the rising economic inequality prevalent in the United States. Haas Institute Director john a. powell discusses why these policies will work in slowing the growth in inequality.
+Almost three years to the date since Occupy Wall Street first raised the consciousness of Americans about the wide economic disparities between the richest one percent versus the 99 percent of U.S. earners, new Federal Reserve data confirms that wealth and income inequality in the U.S. is accelerating.
+=====Government Policies to Reduce Income Inequality=====
+[https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-oldwestbury-publicfinanceandpublicpolicy/chapter/government-policies-to-reduce-income-inequality/ by lumen]
+ No society should expect or desire complete equality of income at a given point in time, for a number of reasons. First, most workers receive relatively low earnings in their first few jobs, higher earnings as they reach middle age, and then lower earnings after retirement. Thus, a society with people of varying ages will have a certain amount of income inequality. Second, people’s preferences and desires differ. Some are willing to work long hours to have income for large houses, fast cars and computers, luxury vacations, and the ability to support children and grandchildren.
+=====Spreading the Wealth=====
+[https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2018/03/bourguignon by INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 3/18]
+ After years of quasi-neglect, economic inequality has taken center stage in the policy debate worldwide. In advanced economies, the apparent impact of globalization and technological change and the cost of counteracting these forces is raising concern.
+=====Policy cocktails: Attacking the roots of persistent inequality=====
+[https://siepr.stanford.edu/publications/policy-brief/policy-cocktails-attacking-roots-persistent-inequality by Matthew O. Jackson 5/21 Stanford]
+ Patterns of inequality are a manifestation of major barriers faced by millions in finding paths from poverty to middle- or upper-class lives. They often lack not only financial capital but also a vital form of social capital: information about and access to the educational and employment opportunities necessary to break the cross-generation perpetuation of economic immobility.
+=====Income Inequality in the United States=====
+[https://inequality.org/facts/income-inequality/ by INEQUALITY]
+ Income includes the revenue streams from wages, salaries, interest on a savings account, dividends from shares of stock, rent, and profits from selling something for more than you paid for it. Unlike wealth statistics, income figures do not include the value of homes, stock, or other possessions. Income inequality refers to the extent to which income is distributed in an uneven manner among a population.
+=====Rising inequality: A major issue of our time=====
+[https://www.brookings.edu/articles/rising-inequality-a-major-issue-of-our-time/ by Zia Qureshi 16/5/23 BROOKINGS]
+ Current inequality levels are high. Contemporary global inequalities are close to the peak levels observed in the early 20th century, at the end of the prewar era (variously described as the Belle Époque or the Gilded Age) that saw sharp increases in global inequality.
+=====A Guide to Statistics on Historical Trends in Income Inequality=====
+[https://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-inequality/a-guide-to-statistics-on-historical-trends-in-income-inequality by Arloc Sherman 11/12/24 Center On Budget and Policy Priorities]
+ This guide consists of four sections. The first describes the commonly used sources and statistics on income and discusses their relative strengths and limitations for understanding income trends.
+=====Policy Implications from Rising Economic Inequality=====
+[https://econofact.org/policy-implications-from-rising-economic-inequality by  Kimberly Clausing and Hilary Hoynes 13/11/18 ECONOFACT]
+ A marked increase in income inequality has been a defining characteristic of the U.S. economy of the past several decades. Progressive tax policy and a social safety net that invests in those at the bottom of the income distribution play a role in mitigating widening inequality in the United States.
+=====Legal Milestones That Fight Income Inequality=====
+[https://www.investopedia.com/legal-milestones-that-fight-inequality-5116659 by  Daniel Thomas Mollenkamp 4/4/24 Investopedia]
+ Income inequality in the U.S. is particularly high for a developed economy. At numerous times during its history, the country has attempted to address the issue through policy, legislation, and judicial decisions. This has included efforts to promote equal pay, to prevent discrimination, and to deal with other types of bias that can foster inequality. Though income inequality persists, previous milestones may provide a roadmap for future attempts to address the matter.
+=====How do taxes affect income inequality?=====
+[https://taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-do-taxes-affect-income-inequality by TAX POLICY CENTER]
+ The US federal tax system mitigates income inequality. High-income households pay a larger share of their income in total federal taxes than low-income households (figure 2). State and local taxes, which are not included in this analysis, are much less progressive and some, such as sales taxes, are regressive (low-income households pay a higher share of their income in sales taxes than high-income households).
+=====Inequality’s drag on aggregate demand=====
+[https://www.epi.org/publication/inequalitys-drag-on-aggregate-demand/ by Josh Bivens and Asha Banerjee 24/5/22 Economic Policy Institute]
+  Rising inequality has had serious economic and fiscal effects. Key among them: It has hurt economic growth. By 2018, the rise in income inequality since 1979 was reducing growth in aggregate demand by about 1.5% of GDP.
+=====Reduce Extreme Economic Inequality=====
+[https://grandchallengesforsocialwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/240730-Economic-Inequality_PB_final.pdf by Grand Challenges]
+ This brief presents a new set of recommendations for reducing extreme economic divides,
+adding to earlier recommendations posed as part of the Grand Challenge.1 In this brief, we
+focus on interventions with popular or political momentum, including newer ideas, such as
+innovative ways to support entrepreneurship, as well as longstanding ideas with new
+evidence or action such as basic income.
+=====ECONOMIC GROWTH AND INCOME INEQUALITY=====
+[https://assets.aeaweb.org/asset-server/files/9438.pdf by SIMON KUZNETS 3/1955 The American Economic Review]
+ The central theme of this paper is the character and causes of longterm changes in the personal distribution of income. Does inequality
+in the distribution of income increase or decrease in the course of a
+country's economic growth? What factors determine the secular level
+and trends of income inequalities?
+=====What Is Economic Inequality?=====
+[https://education.cfr.org/learn/learning-journey/forms-government-change/what-is-economic-inequality by CFR Education 9/6/25]
+ Institutions like the United Nations have prioritized reducing economic inequality given that it can fuel democratic backsliding, influence migration, hamper economic growth, and exacerbate health crises. However, no one-size-fits-all solution exists to address this problem. And not everyone agrees inequality is a major cause for concern in the first place.
+=====Regulation and income inequality in the United States=====
+[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0176268021000872 by Dustin Chambers 3/22 ScienceDirect]
+ Income inequality in the United States has risen over the past several decades. Over the same period, federal regulatory restrictions have increased. An emerging literature shows that regulations can have regressive effects on the distribution of income, exacerbating inequality. The Federal Regulation and State Enterprise (FRASE) index quantifies the regulatory restrictions that apply to each US state by industrial composition.
+=====Income Inequality and Global Political Polarization: The Economic Origin of Political Polarization in the World=====
+[https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8608558/ by J Chin Polit Sci NIH]
+ Both income inequality and political polarization have increased dramatically in much of the world over the past few decades. One might wonder how these two phenomena correlate with each other. Are there any striking similarities in the correlated patterns of income inequality and polarization across the globe?
+=====The facts about global wealth inequality=====
+[https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/issues/economic-justice/income-and-wealth-inequality/ by Oxfam 1/11/24]
+ The truth is that very poor people have seen their wealth increase modestly, while the very wealthy have made fantastic gains. This means inequality is on the rise within many individual countries.
+=====Most Americans Say There Is Too Much Economic Inequality in the U.S., but Fewer Than Half Call It a Top Priority=====
+[https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/01/09/trends-in-income-and-wealth-inequality/ by
+Juliana Menasce Horowitz 9/1/20 Pew Research Center]
+ Barely 10 years past the end of the Great Recession in 2009, the U.S. economy is doing well on several fronts. The labor market is on a job-creating streak that has rung up more than 110 months straight of employment growth, a record for the post-World War II era. The unemployment rate in November 2019 was 3.5%, a level not seen since the 1960s. Gains on the jobs front are also reflected in household incomes, which have rebounded in recent years.
+=====Income Inequality in California=====
+[https://www.ppic.org/publication/income-inequality-in-california/ by Tess Thorman and Daniel Payares-Montoya 3/25 PPIC]
+ In 2023 (the most recent data available), families at the top of the income distribution—the 90th percentile—earned 11 times more than families at the 10th percentile ($336,000 vs. $30,000, respectively). Only two other states had wider income gaps.
+=====Designing economic policy that strengthens U.S. democracy and incorporates people’s lived experiences=====
+[https://equitablegrowth.org/designing-economic-policy-that-strengthens-u-s-democracy-and-incorporates-peoples-lived-experiences/ by Alexander Hertel-Fernandez,Shayna Strom 30/4/25 Washington Center for Equitable Growth]
+ Around the globe, people are increasingly dissatisfied with the state of democratic capitalism. In the United States and other rich democracies, economic policy has too often in recent decades produced rising economic inequality across individuals, as well as regions within countries, stagnant economic growth and innovation, rising costs of essential goods and services such as housing, health care, and education, greater economic insecurity, and declining job quality and stability.
+=====Rising Economic Inequality in the US: Key Statistics and Root Causes=====
+[https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/mje/2022/02/08/rising-economic-inequality-in-the-us-key-statistics-and-root-causes/ by Malak Kalasho ME]
+ Since its beginning, the United States has prided itself on being the land of opportunity, a place in which all individuals have the opportunity to succeed. Many people continue to refer to it as such, but a closer look at wealth and income distribution in the U.S. tells a different story. To the extent to which success depends on economic status and mobility, the notion that the U.S. is still the land of opportunity is simply false.
+=====Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries=====
+[https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/inequality/ by SUSTAINABLE DEVWLOPMENT GOALS]
+ The incomes of the poorest 40 per cent of the population had been growing faster than the national average in most countries. But emerging yet inconclusive evidence suggests that COVID-19 may have put a dent in this positive trend of falling within-country inequality.
+=====6 Policies to Combat Inequality=====
+[https://www.americanprogress.org/article/6-policies-to-combat-inequality/ by Ben Olinsky 28/1/14 CAP]
+ When President Barack Obama gives his State of the Union address Tuesday, it is widely expected that he will focus on income inequality, making it a top-of-the-agenda item for this year and the remainder of his term. In his December speech hosted by the Center for American Progress, the president likely offered a preview of his message as he argued that a strong middle class helps drive economic growth
+=====Income Inequality & Monopoly=====
+[https://www.openmarketsinstitute.org/learn/income-inequality-monopoly by OPEN MARKETS]
+ America is more unequal than it has been in a century. The richest 0.1 percent of American families own as much wealth as the lower 90 percent of all American families combined. Between 1979 and 2007, the richest one percent took in 53.9 percent of all income growth. And wealth inequality grew even more dramatic in the wake of the great recession. The richest 7 percent expanded their average neat worth by more than 25 percent between 2009 and 2011, and whites claimed an even larger proportion of American wealth relative to Blacks and Hispanics.
+=====Should Equity Be a Goal of Economic Policy?=====
+[https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/issues/issues16/ by International Monetary Fund]
+ The Economic Issues series aims to make available to a broad readership of nonspecialists some of the economic research being produced on topical issues by IMF staff. The series draws mainly from IMF Working Papers, which are technical papers produced by IMF staff members and visiting scholars, as well as from policy-related research papers.
+=====Why We Have Trouble Supporting Greater Income Equality=====
+[https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_we_have_trouble_supporting_greater_income_equality by Jill Suttie 12/6/25 POLITICS]
+ According to data from the Congressional Budget Office, wealth inequality has been rising steeply in the United States over the last 30 years. This gap between rich and poor means that the top 1% of earners now own nearly 30% of the total wealth in the country, with the bottom 50% owning only 4% of that wealth.
+=====Income and wages=====
+[https://www.epi.org/research/income-and-wages/ by Economic Policy Institute]
+ The House Republicans’ plan to cut Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for the rich would slash incomes for the bottom 40%
+=====The Politics of American Inequality=====
+[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.
+=====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.