|
1 of 2
Income inequality in
Canada and the United States is on the rise. Read on to learn the real reason
why�
The Canadian Centre for
Policy Alternatives (CCPA) analysis of income inequality data shows the
richest one percent of Canadians make $180,000 more today - adjusted for
inflation - than they did in 1982.
The bottom 90 percent of
Canadians saw income gains of only $1,700 over the same time period. In
Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal - Canada�s three largest cities - the bottom
90 percent actually make less today than they did in 1982.
Most Canadians
living in these cities have seen drops in income of:
- Vancouver = $4,300
- Toronto = $1,900
- Montreal = $224
The richest one percent
of Canadians in these three cities cities saw pay
increases of:
- Vancouver = $189,000
- Toronto = $297,000
- Montreal = $162,000
 There are shocking disparities in income
inequality in America�
David Cay Johnston, a
Pulitzer Prize winner writing for Tax Analysts says that between 1966 and
2011, average inflation-adjusted income of the bottom 90 percent of US
workers grew by just $59 while the income of the top 10 percent of workers
grew by $116,071 - an astonishing, and frightening, 1,967 times the bottom 90
percent income growth rate.
The top one percent have enjoyed 81 percent of all the increased income since
2009.
The truly astonishing
fact here is that it takes only $110k a year to be a top 10 percent earner in
the U.S.! Getting into the top one percent is a stretch being over three
times higher at $366k while joining the exclusive top .01 percent takes a
whopping $8 million yearly income. In Canada, to join the top one percent
club of 255,000 taxpayers, your income would have to have exceeded $200k. The
threshold for the 25,475 Canadians that make up the top 0.1 percent was
$685,000.00 of income.
Why such growth in income inequality?
Most would tell you, are
telling you, it�s because�
Stocks and bonds are
going up while the housing market remains flat.The
top 10 percent have most of their wealth concentrated in stocks etc., less
affluent households have their wealth in the value of their home - housing
prices remain well below their 2006 peak while U.S. stock indices have all
recently hit records.
Some will say falling top
marginal tax rates in Canada explain part of the wealth disparity and income
rise for the richest one per cent in that country.
A few will point out that
the increase in inequality, in both countries, can also be attributed to institutional
forces:
- Declines in unionization rates
- Stagnating minimum wage rates
- Deregulation
- National
policies that favor the wealthy
All the reasons above
show why the bottom 90 percent are getting poorer or at best have stagnating
incomes but at best they explain only partially why the income gap is
widening.
Consider what Stephen
McNamee and Robert Miller, authors of The Meritocracy Myth have to
say:
- 20%
of American households receive 50% of all available income
- The
lowest 20% of households receive less than 4%
- The
top 5% of households receive 22% of all available income
- The
richest 1% of households account for 30% of all available net worth
- Economic
inequality in the U.S. is the highest among all industrial countries
As a general rule,
the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information
|
