the unequal society

The United States is an unequal society. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the top 20 percent get about half the nation’s income, compared to the 5 percent of all income shared among the bottom fifth of households. The top 10 percent of the population controls about 70 percent of the wealth. Among rich countries, America’s inequality is certainly extreme. But the world as a whole is an incredibly unequal place. Norway—held up as a model of equality—still sees the bottom fifth of households with incomes less than a third (PDF) those of the top fifth.

Why is there such inequality? The choices we make as individuals can put us considerably above or below our peer average in terms of income or happiness or status. But our peer average itself is set by forces beyond our control—factors such as to whom we were born. And our peer average explains our relative standing against national averages far more than our own choices.

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The net worth of the average American went from $194,000 in 1962 to $564,000 in 2007 (inflation adjusted).  However the median net worth went from only $52,000 in 1962 to $108,000 in 2007.  What's worse the average dropped to $464,000 in 2010 and the median dropped to $57,000, the lowest in 41 years.