Sanders: In my view, we can no longer tolerate billionaires becoming obscenely rich ...

[Celerity]

50. wealth equality is the number one interlocking stat that determines the overall well-being of a

nation state.

Great video explaining this (and this is from 10 years ago, it has only gotten worse in the US)

How economic inequality harms societies | Richard Wilkinson

If it is a 'losing' issue then we are headed down a nightmarish path. The issue is not just about billionaires (Bezos is worth over 60 THOUSAND times more than Sanders) versus the rest, it is about the incredibly unequal distribution amongst the 332 million Americans. The top 1% percent in the United States now have more wealth than the bottom 90 percent combined, they have 15 times more wealth than the bottom 50%.

The concentration of wealth at the top, and the resultant lack of wealth of the vast numbers not at the top is staggering and growing worse yearly (and that was before COVID-19). The US has the 2nd lowest upward social mobility of any OECD nation. Only the UK is worse. The myth of the US as the land of the best opportunities to move up is one of the biggest scams being pushed for decades. You are FAR less likely to move up from the bottom in the US than in almost every other advanced nation. A few years back the GINI co-efficient (measurement of wealth equality) of the US was 139th (meaning 138 nation had more equal wealth distributions). 138th on the list, so one above the US was Iran. The higher the GINI, the less equal the wealth is distributed. Here is another GINI listing (Togo has now passed the US as well) done by Statista: (their total co-efficient numbers are not not exactly the same as the World Bank and OECD ratings, which is discussed in the NBC news article below)

https://www.statista.com/forecasts/1171540/gini-index-by-country




Most Americans couldn't cover a $1,000 financial emergency, survey finds

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/financial-emergency-savings-americans-cover

Fewer than 4 in 10 Americans have enough money set aside to cover an unexpected $1,000 expense, such as a trip to the ER or car repairs, according to a new survey.


U.S. income inequality at highest level in 50 years, economic gap growing in heartland

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/u-s-income-inequality-highest-level-50-years-economic-gap-n1058956

ORLANDO, Fla. — The gap between the haves and have-nots in the United States grew last year to its highest level in more than 50 years of tracking income inequality, according to Census Bureau figures.

Income inequality in the United States expanded from 2017 to 2018, with several heartland states among the leaders of the increase, even though several wealthy coastal states still had the most inequality overall, according to figures released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The nation's Gini Index, which measures income inequality, has been rising steadily over the past five decades.

The Gini Index grew from 0.482 in 2017 to 0.485 last year, according to the bureau's 1-year American Community Survey data. The Gini Index is on a scale of 0 to 1; a score of "0'' indicates perfect equality, while a score of "1'' indicates perfect inequality, where one household has all the income.