Things have gotten better and progress has been made from times past, it just seems worse now because we have more access to information. We've come far, and have further to go!
this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2023
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In the US every single one of those indicators is going the other way. It's only by looking globally that you can say that.
Well fuck the rest of the world, amirite? U S A! U S A! U S A!
US income inequality plummeted under Roosevelt (inequality coefficient: 0.59 - 0.47) and began its steady climb under Regan. It leveled out in 2012 under Obama (0.58) and had a slight dip (0.58 - 0.57 - 0.58) in 2020 under Trump. We're almost back to where we started when Roosevelt took measures to help. The USA has, however consistently been well below the world average for income inequality (0.71- 0.66). https://ourworldindata.org/economic-inequality
Infant/Child mortality rate hasn't raised anywhere since 1960 and is lower everywhere than it was in 1950, and yes the USA is still winning:
https://ourworldindata.org/child-mortality
Extreme poverty is trending downward faster in the US than the world average:
https://ourworldindata.org/poverty
Thank you for this research, it gives great perspective.
The wealth gap between the US and citizens of dirt-poor nations is insane. People live on less in a day than I make in a few minutes. I don't mind losing a little to help bring others up, and, since it's not zero-sum, it ends up being a larger plus overall than the minus for us.
If that's where it was going I wouldn't mind but researchers have tracked the missing wages and extra profits to the 1 percent.
When you think about what people live on in other countries you also have to think about what things cost around them. An apple, for example, is far cheaper for them to buy. That said there are still people in poverty even with that in mind and they should be helped. But that's not what's causing the inequality gap in western countries and it's far overblown as an argument to make Westerners ashamed to complain while they are exploited by the extremely wealthy.
The gap isn't necessarily bad. It's the things that cause it (and that the rising tide isn't lifting all boats) that's the problem.
This gap very much is. It's way too much for any sustainable society.