Posted in The Washington Post by Ezra Klein on December 4, 2013 at 3:48 pm
Obama's speech on inequality in the U.S.A delivered on December 4, 2013
...I’ll just give you a few statistics. Since 1979, when I graduated from high school,
our productivity is up by more than 90 percent, but the income of the typical family
has increased by less than eight percent. Since 1979, our economy has more than
doubled in size, but most of that growth has flowed to a fortunate few.
The top 10 percent no longer takes in one-third of our income -- it now takes half. Whereas
in the past, the average CEO made about 20 to 30 times the income of the average worker,
today’s CEO now makes 273 times more. And meanwhile, a family in the top 1 percent has a
net worth 288 times higher than the typical family, which is a record for this country.
So the basic bargain at the heart of our economy has frayed. In fact, this trend towards
inequality is not unique to America’s market economy. Across the developed world, inequality
has increased. Some of you may have seen just last week, the Pope himself spoke about this
at eloquent length. “How can it be,” he wrote, “that it is not a news item when an elderly
homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?”...
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From The Observer - 8 December 2013
David Simon: 'There are now two
Americas. My country is a horror show'
The creator of The Wire, David Simon, delivered an impromptu
speech about the divide between rich and poor in America at the
Festival of Dangerous Ideas in Sydney, and how capitalism has
lost sight of its social compact. This is an edited extract.
"...Mistaking capitalism for a blueprint as to how to build a society strikes me as a really
dangerous idea in a bad way. Capitalism is a remarkable engine again for producing
wealth. It's a great tool to have in your toolbox if you're trying to build a society and
have that society advance. You wouldn't want to go forward at this point without it. But
it's not a blueprint for how to build the just society. There are other metrics besides that
quarterly profit report..."
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From
Economic Sociology and Political Economy community - Posted on April 2014
Inequality for all
“Inequality for All” is a documentary featuring Prof. Robert Reich that lucidly explains widening income inequality in the US.
"Economic inequality affects every one of us. “Inequality for All”
is a passionate argument on behalf of the poors and middle class in which Robert Reich- best-selling political economist and Secretary of Labor
under Bill Clinton demonstrates how the widening income gap has a devastating impact on the American economy. Using humor and a wide array
of facts, Reich explores and shows how the massive consolidation of wealth by a precious few threatens the viability of the American
workforce and the foundation of democracy itself.
At the heart of the film is a simple proposition: What is a good society and
what role does the widening income gap play in the deterioration of the nation’s economic health?"
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Striking it Richer:
The Evolution of Top Incomes in the United States
(Updated with 2009 and 2010 estimates)
Emmanuel Saez - March 2, 2012
2010: Recovering from the Great
Recession
In 2010, average real income per family grew by 2.3% (Table 1) but the
gains were very uneven. Top 1% incomes grew by 11.6% while bottom 99%
incomes grew only by 0.2%. Hence, the top 1% captured 93% of the income
gains in the first year of recovery. Such an uneven recovery can help
explain
the recent public demonstrations against inequality. It is likely that
this uneven
recovery has continued in 2011 as the stock market has continued to
recover.
National Accounts statistics show that corporate profits and dividends
distributed have grown strongly in 2011 while wage and salary accruals
have
only grown only modestly. Unemployment and non-employment have
remained high in 2011.
This suggests that the Great Recession will only depress top income
shares temporarily and will not undo any of the dramatic increase in
top
income shares that has taken place since the 1970s. Indeed, excluding
realized capital gains, the top decile share in 2010 is equal to 46.3%,
higher
than in 2007 (Figure 1).
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From CREW|
citizens for responsability and ethics in Washington
Top Scandals 2011
CREW was shocked, shocked to find sex
scandals ending congressional careers in 2011. Despite
the transgressions of 2010, this year saw three more members of
Congress resign amid sex
scandals. In a bipartisan effort, Rep. Chris Lee (R-NY), Rep. Anthony
Weiner (D-NY), and Sen.
John Ensign (R-NV) proved that politicians just can’t stay out of
trouble.
Rep. Lee’s downfall kicked off 2011 after he sent some ill-advised
responses to a personal ad on
Craigslist. In several emails to a woman, Rep. Lee billed himself as a
divorced lobbyist instead
of a married congressman, and sent along a shirtless picture. On
February 9, 2011, Gawker
published the emails, complete with the embarrassing photo. Three hours
later, Rep. Lee
resigned.
He wasn’t the last member of Congress to lose his seat over some
e-flirting. In May, Rep.
Weiner used his Twitter account to send a lewd photo of himself to a
woman in Seattle.
Initially, Rep. Weiner claimed that his account had been hacked, but he
later confessed to
sending explicit images and messages to several women. Critics
questioned whether he used
government resources to try to manage the fallout and the House Ethics
Committee began a
preliminary inquiry into Rep. Weiner’s conduct. He stepped down in June.
Unlike these short-lived scandals, Sen. Ensign held on to his seat for
nearly two years before
resigning. Sen. Ensign’s affair with a campaign staffer, the wife of
his top aide and best friend,
came to light in 2009, but he didn’t resign until May 2011 when he was
faced with expulsion
from the Senate over his efforts to cover up the affair.
September 19, 2011
Most Corrupt 2011
CREW’s seventh report on congressional
corruption names 19 members of Congress – 14
members whose actions violated the law or who otherwise engaged in
serious misconduct, and
five others whose lack of regard for the rules earned them a
dishonorable mention. The 2010
midterm elections swept in a large freshman class, but certainly didn’t
produce more ethical
conduct. A startling 14 of the 19 members on CREW’s list are new to it
this year, and six of
those members are also new to Congress: Reps. Jeff Denham (R-CA),
Stephen Fincher (R-TN),
Michael Grimm (R-NY), Frank Guinta (R-NH), David Rivera (R-FL) and Joe
Walsh (R-IL). Full
report
May 19, 2011
Under Investigation
CREW has compiled a list of Congress
members likely under investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ),
the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the House Ethics Committee,
the Senate Select Committee on Ethics (Senate ethics committee),the
Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), and in some cases, the Federal
Election Commission (FEC). Due to the secrecy surrounding these
investigative bodies, the list is compiled from press reports. On
October 30, 2009, The Washington Post revealed a
leaked House Ethics Committee memo documenting the investigative
activities surrounding House members by the House Ethics Committee
and/or the OCE. The OCE was created in 2008 to review allegations of
misconduct against members of the House and refers matters to the House
Ethics Committee for further action. As a result, it is not always
clear which body is investigating the member.. Updated January 19
2012....
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United States of America: corruption in the Senate and the
House of Representatives
Notes for a brief case study of corruption in capitalist
democracies, as part of Dr. Róbinson Rojas teaching in Development
Planning Unit / University College London - 2011
"Political power abuse for personal
gain and power by elected officials and appointees is as rampant today
as it was during the 18th Century.
Abuse of political power by elected and appointed officials has a long
history in the United States. Democrats and Republicans have been
indicted, charged and gone to jail. Behind each act was a desire for
self-enrichment at the expense of American taxpayers".
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From
The Congress of the United States - Congressional Budget Office
Trends in the Distribution of
Household Income Between
1979 and 2007 - October 2011
This Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
analysis finds
that, over the past three decades, the distribution of
income in the United States has become increasingly dispersed—
in particular, the share of income accruing to
higher-income households has increased, whereas the
share accruing to other households has declined. Despite
definitional and methodological differences, other analyses
using data from tax returns or surveys have reached
similar conclusions.
The dispersion of household income rose almost continually
throughout the nearly 30-year period spanning 1979
through 2007 except during the 1990–1991 and 2001
recessions. The recent turmoil in financial markets, the
prolonged recession that began in December 2007, and
the ongoing slow recovery may have caused a pause in
that upward trend, but the present analysis does not
extend beyond 2007.
From the Washington Post - 21 November 2011
Three ways to combat
rising
inequality
by Lawrence Summers
There has been a strong and troubling
shift in market rewards for a small minority relative to the rewards
available to most citizens. A recent Congressional Budget Office study
found that incomes of the top 1 percent of the U.S. population
(adjusted for inflation) rose 275 percent from 1979 to 2007, while
income for the middle class grew only 40 percent. Even this dismal
figure overstates the fortunes of typical Americans. In 1965, only one
in 20 men ages 25 to 54 was not working; by the end of this decade, it
is likely to be one in six, even if a full cyclical recovery is
achieved.
Another calculation suggests that if the income distribution had
remained constant from 1979 to 2007, incomes of the top 1 percent would
be 59 percent, or $780,000, lower and that incomes among the bottom 80
percent would be 21 percent, or more than $10,000, higher.
|
CREW:
citizens for responsability and ethics in Washington
"Many Americans have given up on our political system,
writing off our elected leaders as crooks. At CREW, we believe
politicians must be held accountable for their actions. Day in and day
out, we work to ensure government officials — regardless of party
affiliation — act with honesty and integrity and merit the public
trust."
"CREW accomplishes this by marrying in-depth research and investigation
with hard-charging legal action and an aggressive communications
strategy. We augment these efforts by building coalitions to push for
policies favoring transparency and accountability. To garner support
for our efforts, we use all mediums of the modern media — television,
radio, print, and social networking —to maximize coverage of our work."
|
Combating
the Culture of Corruption. Or Not.
by Charlie Cray, 2006
Tom DeLay finally resigned, Jack
Abramoff will soon be doing time, and more indictments are being filed
against an ever-growing list of K Street fixers, Members of Congress
and corrupt executive branch employees, fueling public perception that
Washington’s “culture of corruption” is out of control. Yet all the
skeletons and scandals have failed to galvanize enough public outrage
to force Congress to pass even modest ethics and lobby reform
legislation.
Corruption
Roll Call: The Most Corrupt Members of Congress
by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, 2006
Connected to the Abramoff scandal and
under indictment for improper use of corporate funds in a scheme to
cement Republican control over Congress, the powerful House of
Representatives Majority Leader Tom DeLay resigned from office in
April.
But the departed DeLay is not the only Member of Congress whose
behavior merits scrutiny. There are a significant number of other
members who have engaged in similarly egregious conduct, some in
connection with Abramoff, some in other contexts.
Caught
in Jack's Web: The Abramoff Associates' File
by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, 2006
Editor’s Note: Jack Abramoff has
managed to make his name a household word.
Once one of Washington’s most effective and highly paid lobbyists,
Abramoff is expected to report to prison in October, after pleading
guilty in January to conspiracy, tax evasion and fraud associated with
the purchase of a Florida casino cruise line, along with his associate
Adam Kidan. They were each sentenced in March to 5 years and 10 months
in prison.
Separately, Abramoff has also pled guilty to various charges that carry
a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines. The
sentencing in this case has been postponed, and federal prosecutors
have signaled they will recommend a shorter sentence if he continues to
cooperate. The Wall Street Journal reports that Abramoff claims to have
information that could implicate as many as 60 Members of Congress.
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From Truthout:
Lax Oversight? Maybe $64 Million for DC Pols
Explains It
Thursday 02 October 2008
by: Greg Gordon | McClatchy Newspapers
Federal lawmakers responsible for overseeing the US economy have
received millions from Wall Street firms.
Washington - The Wall Street financiers and firms
whose problems have prompted a $700 billion federal bailout are no
strangers to Capitol Hill or to politics.
Since 2001, eight of the most troubled firms
have donated $64.2 million to congressional candidates, presidential
candidates and the Republican and Democratic parties, according to data
from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
The donors include investment bankers Bear
Stearns, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley,
insurer American International Group and mortgage giants Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac. Since March, with the exception of Goldman Sachs and
Morgan Stanley, all of these companies have been bailed out by the
government, sold to other companies at deeply discounted prices or
simply failed.
From Rolling Stone:
The Big Takeover
The global economic crisis isn't about money - it's about power. How
Wall Street insiders are using the bailout to stage a revolution
By MATT TAIBBI, Posted Mar 19, 2009 12:49 PM
The mistake most people make in looking at the financial crisis is
thinking of it in terms of money, a habit that might lead you
to look at the unfolding mess as a huge bonus-killing downer for the
Wall Street class. But if you look at it in purely Machiavellian terms,
what you see is a colossal power grab that threatens to turn the
federal government into a kind of giant Enron — a huge, impenetrable
black box filled with self-dealing insiders whose scheme is the
securing of individual profits at the expense of an ocean of unwitting
involuntary shareholders, previously known as taxpayers.
From Capital Eye Blog:
Congressmen Hear from
TARP
Recipients Who Funded Their Campaigns
Published by Lindsay Renick Mayer on February 10, 2009 9:18 PM
The eight CEOs testifying Wednesday before the House Financial Services
Committee about how their companies are using billions of
dollars in bailout funds may find that the hot seat is merely
lukewarm. Nearly every member of the committee received
contributions associated with these financial institutions
during the 2008 election cycle, for a total of $1.8 million. And 18 of
the lawmakers have their own personal funds invested in the companies.
|
Alberto
Alesina and George-Marios Angeletos
Corruption,
Inequality and Fairness
Massachusetts
Institute of Technology - 2005 |
O. C.
Dincer and B. Gunalp
Corruption,
income inequality and growth: evidence from U.S. States
Massey
University, Auckland; Hacettepe University, Ankara - 2005 |
This section deals with poverty and distribution of
income in the United States of America for the following fundamental
reasons:
a.- poverty and extreme inequality in the U.S. have been impossible to
erradicate;
b.- the above because poverty and extreme inequality are the outcome of
the internal dynamics of the capitalist
market;
c.- therefore, those who think that capitalist free-market is the
driving force for achieving human development should look at the U.S.
to study the limits that free-market styles of development pose to
human development.
( Róbinson Rojas - 1998)
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From VoxEU.org
Inequality in times of
crisis: Lessons from the past and a first look at the current recession
Jonathan Heathcote, Fabrizio Perri and Gianluca Violante - 2 February
2010
The unemployment rate has dominated economic headlines, but recessions
raise numerous problems. This column warns that recessions raise
earnings inequality and income inequality, absent mitigating government
programmes. The current recession has indeed raised such inequality,
but consumption inequality has surprisingly declined.
The debate on the adverse consequences of the economic crisis in the US
flags rising unemployment as the most pressing issue. But crises are
also bad for income distribution (Coile and Levine 2009). Households in
which a bread-winner becomes unemployed face a significant decline in
earnings. Thus rising unemployment mechanically causes the bottom of
the earnings distribution to fall off relative to the median,
increasing inequality in earnings.
A key question for the policy debate is to what extent this loss of
earnings power at the bottom of the earnings distribution translates
into a decline in living standards.
|
From
the U.S. Census Bureau
Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage
in the United States
The complete series
|
From the
U.S. Census Bureau
Statistical Abstracts of the United States
|
From
the ECONOMIC
POLICY INSTITUTE
Read The State of Working America (United States) reports
|
The
Christian Science Monitor - August 03, 2006
New
Treasury
head eyes rising inequality
In his first
major speech Monday, Henry Paulson pushed America's wide income gap
onto the agenda.
By Mark Trumbull - Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
The wide gap between the richest and poorest Americans has not often
been the topic of choice for the Bush administration's two previous
Treasury secretaries. So it was notable this week that Henry Paulson,
the president's latest Treasury head, chose to put that issue on his
short list - as one of the nation's four prominent, long-term economic
challenges. Mr. Paulson's head-on approach during one of his first
public appearances as secretary differs from his predecessors'
strategies, some analysts say.
The wealth gap is hardly new, but income inequality has been growing in
America over the past quarter century. Even as average worker
productivity has surged, average hourly earnings have stagnated.
Meanwhile, the nation's economic elites have prospered.
|
Inequality
in United States of America
The
rich, the poor and the growing gap between them
The rich are the big gainers
in America's new prosperity
From The Economist print edition - June 15 2006
The rise of the working rich reinforces America's self-image as the
land of opportunity. But, by some measures, that image is an illusion.
Several new studies show parental income to be a better predictor of
whether someone will be rich or poor in America than in Canada or much
of Europe. In America about half of the income disparities in one
generation are reflected in the next. In Canada and the Nordic
countries that proportion is about a fifth.
|
Polarization
in United States of America
The
Evolution of Top Incomes: A Historical and International Perspective
by Thomas Piketty and
Emmanuel Saez,
NBER WP 11955, January 2006
This paper summarizes the main findings of the recent studies that have
constructed top income and wealth shares series over the century for a
number of industrialized countries using tax statistics.
|
How capitalist free market creates poverty
Poverty
in United States of America
For the fourth
consecutive year, the poverty rate and the number of Americans living
in poverty both rose from the prior years. Since 2000, the number of
poor Americans has grown by more than 6 million. The official poverty
rate in 2004 (the most current year for which figures are available)
was 12.7 percent, up from 12.5 percent in 2003. Total Americans below
the official poverty thresholds numbered 37 million, a figure 1.1
million higher than the 35.9 million in poverty in 2003. (U.S. Census
Bureau, Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the
United States: 2004)
On average, more than one out of every three Americans - 37 percent of
all people in the United States - are officially classified as living
in poverty at least 2 months out of the year. (U.S. Census Bureau, Income,
Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2004)
|
From The
Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn
Regional
income inequality in selected large countries
A Heshmati,
September 2004
The countries considered here cover transition (China
and Russia), developing (India) and industrialised (USA) countries.
Empirical results
from the literature is further complemented and compared with those
obtained from the
WIID data covering post 1950s.
--------- |
Moses Shayo
Nation,
Class and Redistribution:
Applying Social Identity Research to Political Economy.
Princeton
University - 2005
|
The New York Times - 10 June 2005
Losing
Our Country
By Paul Krugman
"The middle-class society I grew up in no longer exists. Working
families have seen little if any progress over the past 30 years.
Adjusted for inflation, the income of the median family doubled between
1947 and 1973. But it rose only 22 percent from 1973 to 2003, and much
of that gain was the result of wives' entering the paid labor force or
working longer hours, not rising wages.
But the wealthy have done very well indeed. Since 1973 the average
income of the top 1 percent of Americans has doubled, and the income of
the top 0.1 percent has tripled."
/font>
|
From CNN, August 26, 2004
Poverty
spreads in the U.S.A.
Census
Bureau says 1.3 million more slipped into poverty last year; health
care coverage also drops.
|
Róbinson Rojas
About obscenities, poverty and
inequality in a capitalist system
|
IDEAS: report 2002
Number of
People in Poverty Increases in U.S.
|
From the International Monetary Fund
Western Hemisphere Department - August 1996
Income distribution and
macroeconomic performance in the United States
By J. Cole and C. Towe
The factors underlying the rise in U.S. income inequality since the
mid-1970s are examined. The results suggest that the trend increase in
income inequality has not been related to macroeconomic developments,
suc as income growth or import penetration, but that the income
distribution is sensitive to the cycle. Important factors that do help
explain the widening of the income distribution include the increased
investment in technology and the decline in the minimum wage. The rise
in the share of single female-headed households, the increased
proportion of households headed by someone over the age of 35, and the
fall in the child-dependency ratio also help explain movements in
income shares.
|
U.S.
Census Bureau on Poverty (29 April 2004)
-- Recent Poverty
Measurement Research
-- Small Area
Estimates
Guidance on
Survey Differences in Income and Poverty Estimates
POVERTY DEFINITION, THRESHOLDS AND GUIDELINES:
CURRENT
POPULATION SURVEY
SURVEY OF INCOME AND
PROGRAM PARTICIPATION (SIPP):
DECENNIAL CENSUS:
Contact the Housing and Household Statistics
Division Information Staff at (301)763-3242 or visit ask.census.gov for further
information on Poverty Statistics.
Go to Income
Statistics
Last Revised: April 29, 2004
|
9 June 2005
Capitalist
Economic Terrorism
Free-market
fundamentalism, which can be better described as capitalist economic
terrorism, is creating a world with a small bunch of super rich and a
big majority just surviving on their subsistence income. United States
is a telling case study of this. What began with the Reagan
Administration is reaching obscene features with the Bush
Administration. Statistics show that "for every additional dollar
earned by the bottom 90 percent of the population between 1950 and
1970, those in the top 0.01 percent earned an additional $162. That gap
has since skyrocketed. For every additional dollar earned by the bottom
90 percent between 1990 and 2002, each taxpayer in that top bracket
brought in an extra $18,000." The New York Times is publishing a
special section ("Class Matters"), from which I select here some
important texts. They show how capitalist economic terrorism
(free-market fundamentalism) can disjoint a society. The winners are
the ones who have at their service a political class serving their
interests by unleashing political and economic terrorism (otherwise
known as globalization) all over planet Earth. They are building a
larger U.S. empire. Modern Caligulas like Bush et al are the top layer
of that political class. ( Róbinson Rojas - June 2005)
The Bush Economy (7 June 2005)
Richest Are
Leaving Even the Rich Far Behind (5 June 2005)
Crushing
Upward Mobility (7 June
2005)
Class
Matters. A special section (8 June 2005)
The
Mobility Myth (6 June
2005)
|
6 September 2005
Capitalist
Social Terrorism
Capitalist
markets work concentrating capital in the hands of a minority
creating capitalist economic terrorism (as I defined it
elsewhere) because capital concentration gives also overwhelming
political power to the big capitalists and their political servants.
From the above capitalist social terrorism arises, which dramatically
polarizes society. United States of America is the best example of this
capitalist social terrorism in action which Hurricane Katrina uncovered
for the whole world to see. In United States of America like in any
modern capitalist society creation of wealth goes parallel to creation
of inequality and poverty. The texts below, taken from The Washington
Post and The New York Times, are a useful description of the main
features of capitalist social terrorism. ( Róbinson
Rojas, 6 September 2005)
From
The New York Times - 8 September 2005
Macabre Reminder: The
Corpse on Union Street
By Dan Barry
NEW ORLEANS, - In the downtown business district here, on a dry stretch
of Union Street, past the Omni Bank automated teller machine, across
from a parking garage offering "early bird" rates: a corpse. Its feet
jut from a damp blue tarp. Its knees rise in rigor mortis. Six National
Guardsmen walked up to it on Tuesday afternoon and two blessed
themselves with the sign of the cross. One soldier took a parting
snapshot like some visiting conventioneer, and they walked away. New
Orleans, September 2005.
---
From The Washington
Post - 6 September 2005
The Lagging Poor
"The Census Bureau's annual
report on income, poverty and health insurance in the United States is
not alarming -- but neither is it cheering, or even reassuring. Rather,
the numbers underscore the lagging and uneven nature of the economic
recovery since the 2001 recession. According to the new data, 4 million
more people were living in poverty in 2004 than in 2001, and 4.6
million more people lacked health insurance."
---
From The New York Times
- 6 September 2005
The Larger Shame
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
The wretchedness coming across our television screens from Louisiana
has illuminated the way children sometimes pay with their lives, even
in America, for being born to poor families.
---
From The Washington
Post - 5 September 2005
Disaster Cleanup
Halliburton Subsidiary
Taps Contract For Repairs
By Lolita C. Baldor
An Arlington-based Halliburton Co. subsidiary that has been criticized
for its reconstruction work in Iraq has begun tapping a $500 million
Navy contract to do emergency repairs at Gulf Coast naval and Marine
facilities damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
---
From The Washington
Post - 3 September 2005
Kanye West's Torrent of
Criticism, Live on NBC
"I hate the way they
portray us in the media. You see a black family, it says, "They're
looting." You see a white family, it says, "They're looking for food."
And, you know, it's been five days [waiting for federal help] because
most of the people are black."
By Lisa de Moraes
---
From The Washington
Post - 3 September 2005
Oil Firms Turn Katrina
Into Profits, Clinton Says
N.Y. Senator Criticizes
Lack of National Leadership, Freedom From Imports
By Dan Balz
---
From The New York Times
- 3 September 2005
Editorial
Katrina's Assault on
Washington
Do not be misled by
Congress's approval of $10.5 billion in relief for the Hurricane
Katrina victims. That's prompted by the graphic shock of the news
coverage from New Orleans and the region, where the devastation
catapults daily, in heartbreaking contrast with the slo-mo bumblings of
government.
---
From The New York Times
- 3 September 2005
United States of Shame
By Maureen Dowd
Stuff happens. And when you combine limited government with incompetent
government, lethal stuff happens. America is once more plunged into a
snake pit of anarchy, death, looting, raping, marauding thugs,
suffering innocents, a shattered infrastructure, a gutted police force,
insufficient troop levels and criminally negligent government planning.
But this time it's happening in America.
---
From The New York Times
- 2 September 2005
They Saw It Coming
By Mark Fischetti
THE deaths caused by Hurricane Katrina are heart-rending. The suffering
of survivors is wrenching. Property destruction is shocking. But
perhaps the most agonizing part is that much of what happened in New
Orleans this week might have been avoided.
---
From The New York Times
- 2 September 2005
From Margins of Society to
Center of the Tragedy
By David González
The scenes of floating corpses, scavengers fighting for food and
desperate throngs seeking any way out of New Orleans have been tragic
enough. But for many African-American leaders, there is a growing
outrage that many of those still stuck at the center of this tragedy
were people who for generations had been pushed to the margins of
society
---
From The New York Times
- 2 September 2005
Cameras Captured a Disaster but
Now Focus on Suffering
By Alessandra Stanley
A woman in a wheelchair, her face and body covered by a plaid blanket,
dead, and left next to a wall of the New Orleans convention center like
a discarded supermarket cart. There were many other appalling images
from Hurricane Katrina on Thursday, but that one was a turning point:
after three days of flood scenes, television shifted from recording a
devastating natural disaster to exposing human failures.
--- |
H. Jeong
and R. M. Townsend
Growth and
Inequality: Model Evaluation Based on an
Estimation-Calibration Strategy
University of
Southern California - 2003
This paper evaluates two well-known models of growth with inequality
that have explicit micro underpinnings
related to household choice. With incomplete markets or transactions
costs, wealth can constrain
investment in business and the choice of occupation and also constrain
the timing of entry into the formal
financial sector. Using the Thai Socio-Economic Survey, we estimate the
distribution of wealth and the
key parameters that best fit cross-sectional data on household choices
and wealth. We then simulate the
model economies for two decades at the estimated initial wealth
distribution and analyze whether the model
economies at those micro-fit parameter estimates can explain the
observed macro and sectoral aspects of
income growth and inequality change. Both models capture important
features of Thai reality. Anomalies
and comparisons across the two distinct models yield specific
suggestions for improved research on the micro
foundations of growth and inequality.
|
Anton Korinek, Johan A.
Mistiaen, and Martin Ravallion
Survey
Nonresponse and the Distribution of Income
World Bank
Research Papers - 2005 |
From
the U.S. Census Bureau, Housing and Household Economic Statistics
Division
Data and
reports on income, poverty and health insurance
Income
Main
Overview
Reports
Definitions
Related
Topics
Micro
Data Access
FAQ
Income, Poverty, and Health
Insurance Coverage in the United States, 2006
Income, Poverty, and Health
Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2004 (P60-229)
The Effects of Government
Taxes and Transfers on Income and Poverty: 2004
August
2005 Press Briefing including Charts
August
2005 Press Release
Income
2004
Median Household Income by State - 2002-2004
Tables
of Income by Detailed Socioeconomic Characteristics - 1994 - 2006
Alternative Income Estimates in
the United States: 2003
(P60-228)
Income,
Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2003
(P60-226)
Money Income in the United States: 2002 (P60-221)
Money Income in the United States: 2001 (P60-218)
Money Income in the United States: 2000 (P60-213)
Money Income in the United States: 1999 (P60-209)
Money Income in the United States: 1998 (P60-206)
The Changing Shape of the Nation's Income Distribution, 1947-98 (P60-204)
Measuring 50 Years of Economic Change Using the
March CPS (P60-203)
Money Income in the United States: 1997 (P60-200)
Changes in Median Household Income: 1969 to 1996
Money Income in the United States: 1996 (P60-197)
Money Income in the United States: 1995 (P60-193)
Income and Poverty Statistics: 1994 (P60-189)
Income and Poverty Statistics: 1993
Consumer Income Reports: (1946
to 2006)
American
Community Survey
Income:
Data Collection, Processing, and Comparisons to the 1990 Census, June
2000.
Income
in the ACS: Comparisons to the 1990 Census (Powerpoint Slides)
American
Housing Survey
Discrepancies
Between Measured Income in the American Housing Survey (AHS) and the
Current Population Survey (CPS)[PDF]
Current
Population Survey
Income
Data Quality Issues in the Annual Social and Economic Supplement to
the
Current Population
Survey. [PDF]
Using
Administrative Earnings Records to Assess Wage Data Quality in the
March
Current Population Survey and the
Survey of Income and Program Participation. [PDF]
New
Methods for Simulating CPS Taxes [PDF]
CPS
ASEC 2005 Tax Model Documentation [PDF]
Assessing
the Quality of the March Current Population Survey and the
Survey of Income and Program
Participation Income Estimates, 1990-1996. [PDF]
Comparability
of CPS Income Data with Other Data
Shares
of Income Received by Quintiles When Equivalent Income Is Used as
the Measure of
Income [PDF]
|
Current Population Survey (CPS): (CPS
Main Home Page)
American
Community Survey (ACS) (ACS
Home Page)
Income,
Earnings, and Poverty from the 2004 American Community Survey (ACS-01)
[PDF]
Profiles
(Table 3 contains income statistics)
Multi-Year
Profile
Detailed
tables
Decennial
Census:
2000 (Your Gateway
to Census 2000)
Summary File 4
(SF4)
Summary File 3
(SF3)
Demographic Profiles
Earnings by
Occupation and Education (state data)
Evidence From
Census 2000 About Earnings by Detailed Occupation for Men and Women (CENSR-15)
[PDF]
Census 2000
PHC-T-33. Earnings Distribution of U.S.Year-Round Full-Time Workers by
Occupation: 1999
Census 2000
Auxiliary Evaluation: Comparing
Employment, Income, and Poverty: Census 2000 and Current Population
Survey [PDF]
1990
Census Home Page
1990 Census of Population
& Housing Paper Listings (CPH-L)
1990 Census Reports
Survey
of Income and Program Participation
(SIPP
Home Page)
Dynamics
of Economic Well-Being: Income 1993 to 1994 [PDF]
Moving Up and Down the Income Ladder
Reports (P70), Statistical Briefs, and Working Papers
Survey
of Program Dynamics (SPD)
(SPD
Home Page)
1997 Data
Small
Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE)
(SAIPE
Home Page)
Model-based estimates for states and counties.
Please read
the Overview and FAQs before attempting to use the state and
county tables.
The
Changing Shape of the Nation's Income Distribution, 1947-98 (P60-204)
Previously
issued Income Inequality Reports
Narrative
on Income Inequality (Middle Class)
Historical
Tables on Income Inequality
4-Person
Median Family Income by State
Contact
the
HHES Information area at 301-763-3242 or visit ask.census.gov
for further information on Income Data.
|
U.S.
Historical Income Data 1967-2003
Current
Population Survey Tables:
Households
Families
People
Experimental
Measures
Income
Inequality
-------
Decennial
Census
State
County
Metropolitan Areas (MAs)
-------
History
of March CPS Changes
Cross-Reference
of Income Table Characteristics
Footnotes
for CPS Historical Income Tables
Current
vs. Constant (or Real) Dollars
Suggested
Citation Styles
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Historical CPS
Income Tables
Historical
Decennial Census
Income Tables
For more
information regarding Current Population Income or Decennial
Census
data, visit ask.census.gov
Go to Income
Statistics
Go to Poverty
Statistics
Last
Revised: April 15, 2005
|
_______________________
-- A brief look at
postwar U.S. income inequality
-- Briefing on 1995 U.S. income, poverty and
health insurance estimates
-- PRESS BRIEFING ON 1997 INCOME AND
POVERTY ESTIMATES
-- Money Income in the United States: 1997
-- Table F. Median Income
Using Different Definitions for Households. With Selected
Characteristics: 1997
-- Table C. Median Income of Households by
State
-- Table B. Selected Measures of Household
Income Dispersion:1967 to 1997
-- Table A. Comparison of Summary Measures of
Income by Selected Characteristics: 1989, 1996 and 1997
-- ARE THE CHILDREN WORSE OFF? Evaluating
Child Well-Being
Using a New (and Improved) Measure of Poverty,
By John Iceland and Kathleen Short, U.S. Census Bureau, Thesia Garner
and David Johnson, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1999
-- Work related expenditures in a new measure of
poverty, By Kathleen Short, Martina Shea, T.J. Eller, 1996
-- Press briefing on 1996 income, poverty,
and health insurance estimates
________________________Charts:
- Poverty 1959-1997
- Median Household Income 1967-1997
- Poverty Rate in the U.S. Counties. 1990
Census.
- Poverty by race and Hispanic origin. 1990
Census
- Poverty by region. 1990 Census
- Poverty rate in the District of Columbia
1989/1990 Census
___________________ |
From the
US
Census
Bureau:
Poverty from 1959 to 2004
- Evaluation of Poverty Estimates: A
Comparison of the American Community Survey and the Current Population
Survey
- Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the
United States: 2004
(P60-229)
Poverty Estimates in the United States: 2003
(P60-227)
- Poverty in the United States: 2002
(P60-222)
- Poverty in the United States: 2001
(P60-219)
- Poverty in the United States: 2000
(P60-214)
- Areas with Concentrated Poverty: 1999
(CENSR-16) [PDF]
- Poverty: 1999
(C2KBR-19) (Census 2000)
- Dynamics of Economic Well-Being: Poverty,
1996 to 1999 (SIPP)
- Experimental Poverty Measures: 1999
(P60-216) [PDF]
- Poverty in the United States: 1999
(P60-210) [PDF]
- Poverty Among Working Families: Findings From
Experimental Poverty Measures: 1998
(P23-203) [PDF]
- Detailed
Tables
- Poverty in the United States: 1998
(P60-207) [PDF]
- Experimental Poverty Measures: 1990-1997
(P60-205) [PDF]
- Poverty in the United States: 1997
(P60-201) [PDF]
- Poverty in the United States: 1996
(P60-198) [PDF]
- Poverty in the United States: 1995
(P60-194) [PDF]
- Income and Poverty Statistics: 1994
(P60-189) [PDF]
- Dynamics of Economic Well-Being: Poverty, 1993 to
1994: Trap
Door? Revolving Door? Or Both? (SIPP)
- Income and Poverty Statistics: 1993
(P60-188) [PDF]
- Poverty in the United States: 1992
(P60-185) [PDF - 17MB]
- Poverty in the United States: 1991
(P60-181) [PDF - 17MB]
- Poverty
Areas Statistical Brief (1990 Census)
- Poverty in the United States: 1990
(P60-175) [PDF - 16MB]
- Poverty in the United States: 1988
and 1989 (P60-171) [PDF - 18MB]
- Poverty in the United States: 1987
(P60-163) [PDF - 7MB]
- Poverty in the United States: 1986
(P60-160) [PDF - 11MB]
- Poverty in the United States: 1985
(P60-158) [PDF - 7MB]
- Characteristics of the Population Below the Poverty
Level: 1984
(P60-152) [PDF - 8MB]
- Characteristics of the Population Below the Poverty
Level: 1983
(P60-147) [PDF - 12MB]
- Characteristics of the Population Below the Poverty
Level: 1982
(P60-144) [PDF - 11MB]
- Characteristics of the Population Below the Poverty
Level: 1981
(P60-138) [PDF - 8MB]
- Characteristics of the Population Below the Poverty
Level: 1980
(P60-133) [PDF - 8MB]
- Advance Data--Money Income and Poverty Status of
Families and Persons in the
United States: 1980 (P60-127)
- Characteristics of the Population Below the Poverty
Level: 1979
(P60-130) [PDF - 14MB]
- Characteristics of the Population Below the Poverty
Level: 1978
(P60-124) [PDF - 9MB]
- Characteristics of the Population Below the Poverty
Level: 1977
(P60-119) [PDF - 9MB]
- Characteristics of the Population Below the Poverty
Level: 1976
(P60-115) [PDF - 9MB]
- Characteristics of the Population Below the Poverty
Level: 1975
(P60-106) [PDF - 15MB]
- Characteristics of the Population Below the Poverty
Level: 1974
(P60-102) [PDF - 8MB]
- Characteristics of the Low-Income Population: 1973
(P60-98) [PDF - 6MB]
- Advance Report--Characteristics of the Low-Income
Population: 1973
(P60-94) [PDF - 656KB]
- Supplementary Report on the Low-Income Population: 1966
to 1972 (P60-95) [PDF - 3MB]
- Characteristics of the Low-Income Population: 1972
(P60-91) [PDF - 8MB]
- Advance Data--Characteristics of the Low-Income
Population: 1972
(P60-88) [PDF - 524KB]
- Characteristics of the Low-Income Population: 1971
(P60-86) [PDF - 5MB]
- Advance Data--Characteristics of the Low-Income
Population: 1971
(P60-82) [PDF - 502KB]
- Characteristics of the Low-Income Population: 1970
(P60-81) [PDF - 5MB]
- Advance Data-Poverty Increases by 1.2 Million in 1970
(P60-77) [PDF - 458KB]
- Poverty in the United States: 1969
(P60-76) [PDF - 5MB]
- Advance Data--Poverty Continues to Decline in 1969
(P60-71) [PDF - 1MB]
- Poverty in the United States: 1959
to 1968 (P60-68) [PDF - 6MB]
- Socioeconomic Trends in Poverty Areas 1960
to 1968 (P60-67) [PDF - 789KB]
- Characteristics of Families and Persons Living in
Metropolitan Poverty Areas: 1967
(P60-61) [PDF - 1MB]
- Family Income Advance, Poverty Reduced in 1967
(P60-55) [PDF - 769KB]
- The Extent of Poverty in the United States: 1959
to 1966 (P60-54) [PDF - 1MB]
Alternative
Definitions of Income (R&D
reports) (The following papers are from the Current Population
Survey
unless otherwise noted)
- Measuring the Effect of Benefits and Taxes on Income
and Poverty: 1992
(P60-186RD) [PDF]
- Measuring the Effect of Benefits and Taxes on Income
and Poverty: 1979
to 1991 (P-60-182-RD) [PDF]
- Measuring the Effect of Benefits and Taxes on Income
and Poverty: 1990
(P60-176-RD) [PDF]
- Measuring the Effect of Benefits and Taxes on Income
and Poverty: 1989
(P60-169-RD) [PDF]
- Measuring the Effect of Benefits and Taxes on Income
and Poverty: 1987
to 1988 (P60-170-RD) [PDF]
- Measuring the Effect of Benefits and Taxes on Income
and Poverty: 1986
(P60-164-RD-1) [PDF]
- Technical Paper 58-Estimates of Poverty Including the
Value of Noncash Benefits: 1987 [PDF
- 11MB]
- Technical Paper 57-Estimates of Poverty Including the
Value of Noncash Benefits: 1986 [PDF
- 3MB]
- Technical Paper 56-Estimates of Poverty Including the
Value of Noncash Benefits: 1985 [PDF
- 4MB]
- Technical Paper 55-Estimates of Poverty Including the
Value of Noncash Benefits: 1984 [PDF
- 5MB]
- Technical Paper 52-Estimates of Poverty Including the
Value of Noncash Benefits: 1983 [PDF
- 2MB]
- Technical Paper 51-Estimates of Poverty Including the
Value of Noncash Benefits: 1979
to 1982 [PDF
- 3MB]
- Technical Paper 50-Alternative
Methods for Valuing Selected In-kind Transfer Benefits and Measuring
their
Effect on Poverty [PDF]
- Conference
on the Measurement of Noncash Benefits -- December 12-14, 1985,
Fort
Magruder Inn & Conference Center, Williamsburg, Virginia [PDF
- 44MB]
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