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I wouldn't be surprised if most respondents are answering as if the question were about income rather than wealth.
I also wouldn't be, but IIRC it doesn't materially change the picture. (No citation handy at the moment.)
Wealth inequality is much more pronounced than income inequality, especially in the bottom quintiles.
I'd like to see that graph broken down between people who think that wealth is a zero sum thing that can be represented as a pie (as shown) vs those who know it isn't. That is, people who think that if I have a dollar, then they can't also have that same dollar at the same time.
Exactly! The pie is growing. Compare your wealth to your parents not your neighbors.
It's been clearly determined that wages have not kept up with inflation, so I would say that comparing one generation's wealth with their parents is not something that will yield hopeful results.
I'd like to see that graph broken down between people who think that wealth is a zero sum thing that can be represented as a pie (as shown) vs those who know it isn't. That is, people who think that if I have a dollar, then they can't also have that same dollar at the same time.
Given that the "ideal" distributions are more or less the same across all other demographic slices, I doubt it would be substantially different. Which is good, because that argument doesn't stand up to even casual scrutiny.
The macroeconomic pie grows so slowly that it's not particularly meaningful to individuals on scales of less than a lifetime. When you actually look at the numbers [1], it's clear that rich people are getting richer at a much higher rate than poorer people are getting richer. Moreover, the average real household net worth has dropped substantially over the last decade, while the net worth of the richest has grown. No matter how you look at them, the numbers just don't support the "pie growth" hypothesis on anything other than an extremely long time scale.
[1] https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Wealth_in_the...
I wouldn't be surprised if most respondents are answering as if the question were about income rather than wealth.
I also wouldn't be, but IIRC it doesn't materially change the picture. (No citation handy at the moment.)
I don't really know anyone that is confused or surprised when they hear that this is how the country's wealth is distributed.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I also wouldn't be, but IIRC it doesn't materially change the picture. (No citation handy at the moment.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_distribution Wealth inequality is much more pronounced than income inequality, especially in the bottom quintiles.
I'd like to see that graph broken down between people who think that wealth is a zero sum thing that can be represented as a pie (as shown) vs those who know it isn't. That is, people who think that if I have a dollar, then they can't also have that same dollar at the same time.
Money is a zero-sum game, wealth is not. So yes, I can't have the same dollar that you have.
What’s interesting here is the extent to which the public vastly overestimates the prosperity of lower-income Americans. I bet this is due in large part to the availability of credit over the last few decades. Credit has allowed lower-income people to "play the part" of the wealthy, giving rise to the distortion. In particular, interest-only, 0% down mortgages, low or no-interest credit cards, and car leases let some…
Most lower-income americans make more than the world median income. Our "poverty line" is 20x the income line for half the planet. Of late in Atlanta, one news story about someone unable to pay to heat more than one room had a dramatic photo of her showing her heating bill in her living room - with a 55" HDTV and Xbox360 in the same room. Problem with that chart is scale: while 20% may have most of the money, the poo…
Facts play a depressingly small part in politics and (perhaps even more depressingly so), studies/surveys and casual observations show that pointing out various facts to people does not actually change their opinions. Try talking about income inequality to a Tea Partier and you'll get the same reaction that an evangelical christian has to evolution. Moreover, this is certainly not an American phenomenon - I see it US…
Tea Party supporter here - and I am quite aware of the facts regarding income distribution in this country. Are you saying that people can't disagree on the proper level of income redistribution for a society if they are all aware of the current distribution of income? That's a mighty strange assertion.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly! The pie is growing. Compare your wealth to your parents not your neighbors.
A deli manager at a grocery store in the Chicago area in 1985 made $35k - $40k a year. Adjusted for inflation, that was the equivalent of around $72k - $81k a year. With full benefits. It's been clearly determined that wages have not kept up with inflation, so I would say that comparing one generation's wealth with their parents is not something that will yield hopeful results.