Thursday, April 28, 2011

Proportion

Veronique de Rugy:
My colleague Matt Michell sends me this remarkable chart courtesy of Catherine Rampell of Economix. It is from a new book, The Haves and the Have Nots, by the World Bank’s Branko Milanovic. It takes a moment to wrap your head around it, but it’s worth the time.
The chart:



The conclusion:
Debate over the data aside, the most striking point on this chart is that even the poorest 5 percent of Americans are among the richest people in the world — richer than nearly 70 percent of the world’s population.

[Quote from the chart's author omitted]

I doubt this is comforting to the poorest Americans, but it does show that America is doing something right.
Why don't America's poorest simply buy a plane ticket to India to become the richest peasant in the village?

5 comments:

Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

I doubt this is comforting to the poorest Americans, but it does show that America is doing something right.

More like something Right.

Substance McGravitas said...

You folks are just too generous to the poor. Aren't the poor in other nations getting by?

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

The rich in America are doing their best to correct this outrage.
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ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Superman news
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Substance McGravitas said...

I am amused by this and the subsequent thread.