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A Graph Showing The US Income Distribution

lcurve.org — It is extremely sad when only a super small minority controls a super majority of the wealth. On this graph, take a look how the uber rich compare to us average Americans in income medians.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 12, 2009

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  • Shawn4168, on 07/12/2009, -3/+26Site looks like it was designed in 1995, and links to 9/11 "Truth" sites, therefore losing all credibility. Buried.
  • blah12345, on 07/12/2009, -1/+17worst graph ever.

    Are you supposed to be able to zoom in on anything other than the median income?
  • novenator, on 07/12/2009, -8/+23Another scary statistic, the unopposed rise in CEO pay vs the average worker in their company in the US during the last 30 years (since Reagan's conservative 'revolution'). http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/6738/payratioceotoa ...
  • twinklyJesus, on 07/12/2009, -2/+14Yeah, because those of you who didn't use your money or time wisely, and invest in skills and education endeavors that generate wealth are entitled to equal shares of that which is possessed by those who did. Typical of English Lit majors and History Majors...

    My most pointed concern is with comments like the one above which states there are a group of 1% that are "unnecessarily wealthy". Who has the right to say such a thing? Certainly not the person who risks his career or uses his training and skills wisely and within the law to earn that money. By determining that their salary is "unnecessary" you are also claiming that you are entitled to some of that wealth, which you did not honestly earn.

    Socialism is a government model that has only historically succeed in failure. If you can make nearly as much as someone who founds a company, without all the risk, why bother?
  • inactive, on 07/12/2009, -6/+17I'm sad that in America if you make more than $200,000 you're now 'rich' and expected to take care of everyone else.
  • apackofmonkeys, on 07/12/2009, -0/+10So? I'm very very near the median and I live a comfortable life compared to many people in the world. Why should I let a graph take away my contentment?
  • rmxz, on 07/12/2009, -1/+10What do you find annoying about how they use it?

    That they hoard it and spend most of their efforts trying to further increase their wealth, rather than spending it on every whim they might get so the wealth can be spread to others?
  • jerryjamesstone, on 07/11/2009, -7/+15I dont mind that a small majority are wealthy. Things have been that way forever. The annoying part is how they use it.
  • joe122370, on 07/12/2009, -0/+8 It is extremely sad when only a super small minority controls a super majority of the wealth. On this graph, take a look how the uber rich compare to us average Americans in income medians.

    what kind of ***** up socialist statement is that? People get money by working and making something of themselves. Quit worrying about trying to take away from others and start working on making yourself better
  • FoxtrotYankee, on 07/13/2009, -5/+13What business is it of yours how they use it? It's theirs. Go make your own.
  • Presbyterian, on 07/12/2009, -6/+12It's their money, not yours.
  • j0en, on 07/13/2009, -0/+6I hate "truthers".
  • themastersb, on 07/12/2009, -5/+11Bill Gates doesn't use his money too poorly.
  • twinklyJesus, on 07/12/2009, -2/+8The pay is generally commensurate with the level of responsibility over the revenue expected. The CEO of a million dollar business does not earn the salary that the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company.

    This is flawed thinking and it is incredibly foolish. In this country, the sky has always been the limit. If you believe that someone should legislate, or the population should dictate to a corporation what they should pay for ANY salary, you are a fool who has no clue how our system was designed and what has been tried and has failed before.
  • nicktomyskins, on 07/12/2009, -0/+4so much for a graph just looks like a line and a dot to me
  • inactive, on 07/13/2009, -0/+4MAYBE IF ALL THE POOR DIDNT SPEND _ALL_ THEIR MONEY ON CIGARETTES AMIRITE?
  • Krakerjax, on 07/12/2009, -5/+9This picture kinda misrepresents the wealth.

    This neat little picture better displays the wealth. The first 20% of the wealth is owned by roughly 20% of the population. The other 80% of cash is owned by the upper 20%, with an unnecessarily rich last 1%.
    http://www.ncpa.org/images/336.gif
  • fauxbro, on 07/13/2009, -0/+3Rex Tillerson (exxon-mobil CEO) worked for exxon his entire career, starting off first as an engineer and grinding to the top. I think that any examples of CEO inheriting their jobs because of their social class is are the exception to the rule. you are a loser in life
  • norman619, on 07/13/2009, -0/+3This class envy displayed in this article and here on Digg from time to time is sad. The fact of life is not everyone can be rich. It is the rich who provide the rest of the population with jobs. Nothing is stopping you from wroking and becoming rich yourself. We have more new millionaires today than ever before. They got their money from working instead of inheriting it. It's a myth that "the man" is keeping you down. The only one keeping you from succeeding is yourself. If you keep blaming others for your being stuck where you are then you will NEVER move forward.
  • Mystlyfe, on 07/12/2009, -0/+3Do note that the graph you linked is for married households headed by a 60-69 year old in 2003. I'm curious to see how it changes with different age brackets.
  • FoxtrotYankee, on 07/13/2009, -3/+6The people who make great money in this country pay a giganitc portion of the the taxes already. I defy you to show me a rich guy who says they owe NOTHING. They're already paying a huge amount. They do frequently object to the current populism that doesn't say "thank you" but -- instead -- judges them as greedy and insists on more.
  • inactive, on 07/13/2009, -1/+4I think the government should confiscate all wealth of Americans over $100k net worth and redistribute in a manner that will get them the most votes so they can stay in power and we can finally achieve Economic Justice and Economic Fairness. As an American I deserve access to the wealth and fruits of the labors of other Americans who earned it.
  • twinklyJesus, on 07/13/2009, -1/+4Pintomp:

    What EXACTLY do you think the point of any of this jibber-jabber is, then?

    Of course it leads to wealth redistribution and government controls over salary. Otherwise, why bring it up? The sky is the limit, in the US you can earn as much money as you can endeavor to.

    I don't see what Japan and Germany have to do with this. It doesn't matter what they do. We are, and always have been a totally different government model than either. In Japan, predatory capitalism is legal. It is illegal here, do you think that because Japan allows predatory capitalism and say, whaling, that we should do the same? What makes you think that anyone besides a few uninformed spin doctors think that either Germany or Japan are some model of success? looking back, historically speaking, of the last 60 years, has either country accomplished 1/10 of what our system has, scientifically, productively, or economically? The answer is no.

    The Germans are good at scat movies and the Japanese are good at taking other peoples ideas and REPRODUCING it cheaply.

    I see how society works in Japan and in Germany and I don't want to live like that. I don't think you really do either.
  • pintomp3, on 07/12/2009, -1/+3It was 40 to 1 back in 1980.
  • AlwaysRight100, on 07/12/2009, -3/+5There are less rich people than poor people because being poor is easy, and getting rich is not. To say that the richest are "unnecessarily wealthy" goes against the most fundamental of American values. If you earn it you deserve it. Anyone else tired of liberals spreading this socialist garbage? I think most people in the world are reasonable and would agree with me on this, but it's the extremist liberals that spread this bull everywhere, bombarding the thoughts of the less educated. It's high time smart, reasonable, hardworking people do something to counteract this.
  • inactive, on 07/12/2009, -0/+2front page?
  • sadsadrobot, on 07/12/2009, -1/+3I can only see one couple when I zoom in. Am I supposed to see something else?
  • jaxter2010, on 07/12/2009, -1/+3Hating on rich people is still cool, right?
  • GorfTron, on 07/12/2009, -6/+8I'm sad that people who make great money in a free country feel that they owe NOTHING to support that same country.
  • zyxxyz, on 07/13/2009, -0/+2What exactly do the socialists here think is going to happen if they get their way? It's not like guys like Gates and Buffett have tens of billions of dollars in a checking account they can just hand over to feed the poor. The vast majority of their wealth is tied up securities that wouldn't be worth anything if they were confiscated and dumped on the open market, sold only to people who are so poor their net worth wasn't just confiscated (The other 95% of us who own only 5% of the wealth, or whatever the statistic was).

    No matter how utopian, confiscatory, socialistic a system is, capital always returns to the hands of its rightful owners over time. That's why there are billionaires in Russia and China, and wealthy upper classes in places like Cuba and North Korea.
  • ChuckDees, on 07/13/2009, -1/+3Like when George W Bush and the other owners of the Texas Rangers.
    Wanted land for the new baseball stadium in Arlington TX.
    They used that awesome tool of the rich eminent domain.
  • inactive, on 07/13/2009, -3/+5As an American I have a right to other people's property if they have more than me. I call on the government to take property and wealth from other Americans and give it in the name of social and economic justice. It's the American way: the government forcibly taking from others and giving to groups of people based upon victim status or for political benefit.
  • ChuckDees, on 07/13/2009, -0/+2Yeah well it seems to be used for making other's rich, more than improving the common good.

  • ChuckDees, on 07/13/2009, -0/+2Just pointing out that money trumps ideology.
  • tunafizzle, on 07/13/2009, -0/+2What a ***** graph...
    How about this page?
    http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/we ...

    It looks at it from a historical perspective and breaks it down into sub-groups and also get's into stock ownership.
  • BrandonAbell, on 07/13/2009, -1/+3Women make less for the same jobs than men. Short people make less than tall people. Unattractive less than attractive. Are they working less hard, or is there something else systemic causing the disparity? Or am I just being "socialist" for asking a simple question?
  • Krakerjax, on 07/13/2009, -0/+1More than aware, but it puts it in perspective better than the picture here.
  • jbella, on 07/13/2009, -1/+2Then again,

    the post office lets you send a letter between any two places in the united states for a cheap fixed cost and on the whole they are very reliable. Their services are available to every single American equitably. Rich people cannot have their letters delivered faster or more reliably then middle class people. With my PPO, their rates have gone up drastically every year, and most years my coverage stays the same, but others it actually decreases!

    Same with the DMV... sure the long lines can suck, but they serve a lot more people every year than almost any single insurance provider. For $120 a year (my registration fee) I get a well administered vehicle registration system plus well maintained roads and a police force to patrol them. In contrast, I pay several hundred dollars a month to my PPO for a high-deductible insurance policy that is tied to my job, so that I lose all my benefits if I lose my job.
  • senae, on 07/13/2009, -0/+1Possibly because this hasn't happened? Most of the stimulis money given to companies was almost immediatly squanered on corperate retreats and CEO bonuses.
    That money was also imaginary fairy money, and didn't come from any real source.
  • joe122370, on 07/14/2009, -0/+1yes you can work your way up. Everybody has to do it. EVERYBODY! You don't start at the top. You make yourself the best at what you do and success follows.

    ....and i don't want to hear "what about these trust fund kids that are born with money?" Where do you think it came from? the wealth fairy just sprinkled cash in their cribs? No, their father or grandfather worked their way up and started a company and became head of that company and created a legacy and a future for their children. All these terrible evil corporations started out as small businesses owned by ordinary americans working their way up. Sure it may take 2 or 3 generations but it can and does happen. That is the american dream.
    Your stupid "that's not the way the world works" and it "won't ever happen" is the real problem. That's exactly why the poor and minorities become dependent on welfare. Some idiot like you has told them all their life that you'll never be able to do what those people did. they're special and you're not. It's BS. They're just like you only they tried.
    Tell someone enough, ingrain it in their brain with speeches by politicians who want to keep the poor poor because if they keep them poor they keep their votes. All the time the person they voted for to help them, keeps them exactly where they are.

    All you have to do is get out from under the "can't happen" mentality and try. You can't win the game if you're not in it
  • inactive, on 07/13/2009, -0/+1Did you honestly just use Russia, China, and Cuba as examples for "capital returning to its rightful owners" ?
  • pintomp3, on 07/13/2009, -1/+2@twinklyJesus

    Do you think Blackwater and Haliburton are more efficient than our military? Some things work better in the private sector, some don't.
  • Shawn4168, on 07/13/2009, -0/+1"None. The evidence was all destroyed"

    Well that's a convenient argument. Since there's no evidence, your theory MUST be true!
  • Presbyterian, on 07/13/2009, -0/+1That "tool of the rich" is written into the Constitution, genius.
  • pimpofpixels, on 07/13/2009, -0/+1@ Shawn4168 "Since there's no evidence, your theory MUST be true!"

    I don't know what happened, but I do have a strong feeling that they're lying to us.

    If you've never heard of building 7, look into it. It'll freak you out.
  • Presbyterian, on 07/13/2009, -0/+1Well if you don't even have an MBA you can't expect to be a CEO, can you?.
  • chaos7, on 07/13/2009, -0/+1Shawn4168, you should read that wikipedia link buddy:

    A poisoned-well "argument" has the following form:
    1. Unfavorable information (be it true or false) about person A (the target) is presented by another. ("Before you listen to my opponent, may I remind you that he has been in jail.")
    2. Any claims person A then makes will be regarded as false, or taken less seriously.


    "site looks bad and there are links to other questionable sites" therefore there is no credibility = poisoning the well
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