Wealth Inequality in America

[Pristine20]

sc94597 said:

Pristine20 said:

What you have done is commendable no doubt but the vast majority are going to be stuck in whatever bracket their parents are in. 

This is incorrect. 

http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/tax-policy/Documents/incomemobilitystudy03-08revise.pdf

http://www.frbsf.org/economic-research/publications/economic-letter/2013/march/us-economic-mobility-dream-data/

58% of households in the lowest quintile in 1996 were in a higher quintile in 2005. 

57% of households in the top 1% in 1996 were no longer in the top 1% in 2005. 

One problem with popular portrayals of the income gap is that they show income distribution at a single point in time. But for many households, income changes over time. The low-paying jobs from high school days usually give way to better-paying jobs later in life. Figure 1A shows the percentage of households that moved to a higher income quintile from 1996 to 2005. For example, nearly 58 percent of the households in the lowest income quintile in 1996 moved to a higher category by 2005. The reverse also happens, as shown in Figure 1B. Of those households that were in the top 1 percent in income in 1996, for example, more than 57 percent dropped to a lower income group by 2005.

Granted it was 1996 - 2005, but the "Great Recession" hasn't changed things much, based on recent studies (I chose this one, despite its age, because the source for the data is the U.S Treasury.) 

For other studies: 

http://www.businessinsider.com/inequality-and-mobility-in-the-united-states-2013-7

 

 

 

Only 22%-25% stay in the same bracket as his father whether his father was in the top 10% or the bottom 10%. Oddly enough, around 7% go from the bottom to the top. So for every 100 men born in the bottom 10% of fathers, there are seven who went to the top, 2 who went to the 90 percentile, 5 who went to the 80 percentile and 5 who went to the 70th percentile, 11 who went to the 60th percentile and 11 who went to the 50th percentile, 10 who went to the 40th percentile and 10 who went to the 30th percentile, and 17 who went to the 20th percentile. About 51% of men who were born at the bottom moved to the upper 50% of the population. 

Could've sworn I read a forbes article that made the point I posted but I can't find it now. Your article seems solid. I certainly didn't see that one coming. Interestingly though, as some move up, others move down. I guess some people just have to be poor  for others to be rich both literarily and figuratively i.e if everyone had 1 mil in the bank, 1 mil wont be considered rich anymore. There are limited resources so there will always be unequal distribution.

Equality is only truly achieved in death as per the great quote in my sig.