As we watch the unfolding crisis in Egypt and the demands for greater economic opportunity, Think Progress notes that income inequality in the U.S. is greater than that in Egypt: Egypt is ranked the 90th in inequality, while the U.S. ranks 42nd in inequality of income, according to the CIA World Fact Book. It's another sign that right-wing "trickle down" economics has been a huge failure and a scam. According to the article:
"Currently, the top one percent of households make nearly 25 percent of the total income in the country, after they made less than 10 percent in the 1970′s. Between 1980 and 2005, 'more than 80 percent of total increase in Americans’ income went to the top 1 percent.'"While there won't be rioting in U.S. streets over this issue, it's a clear sign that the concentration of economic power is increasing -- a result of decades of tax breaks and loopholes, insider dealings, deregulation and other goodies for the richest Americans, who are "trickling down" on the rest of us, but not in a nice way.
(image: Don't Trickle On Me)
