The L-Curve graph represents income, not wealth

If we divided the income of the US into thirds, we find that the top ten percent of the population gets a third, the next thirty percent gets another third, and the bottom sixty percent get the last third. If we divide the wealth of the US into thirds, we find that the top one percent own a third, the next nine percent own another third, and the bottom ninety percent claim the rest. (Actually, these percentages, true a decade ago, are now out of date. The top one percent are now estimated to own between forty and fifty percent of the nation’s wealth, more than the combined wealth of the bottom 95%.)

Continue Reading “The L-Curve”

8 Comments

  1. Bravo Ed! I’m impressed how thoroughly the 1% has duped the overwhelming majority. Glacially a basic grasp of some essentials is rising to consciousness. People like Catherine are so critically important to this task, but so are each of us. We individuals must proslytize (sp?) to the best of our abilities, encouraging others to do so also. Exponential function anyone?
    We have access – so far – to this incredible tool, the internet, to assist toward our goal. Do not give up or give in.

  2. This is not about capitalism or communism. The reason for the malady is corruption. We live in an extremely corrupt society. First came the moral bankruptcy and then the financial one that grew out of that. The bailouts are just the next scam perpetrated by a group of domestic and international gangsters. One form of looting has taken place after another for a very long time. The People have just turned a blind eye to it for a long time. Refusing to accept the fact that they have been ruthlessly conspired against. We have just reached a point where the amount of real capital and wealth can no longer support the population. And by that I do not mean dollars. I mean real productive enterprises, farms, infrastructure, etc. So looking for solutions to this problem from implementation of some ideology is not going to be fruitful. The very specific problem is that a identifiable group of criminals have seized power and are using it for control and to enrich themselves to the detriment of other individuals, communities and nations. So now just where is that approximately 24 trillion and counting bailout going to specifically? How many times does one have to get suckered by criminals before one wakes up? So forget ideology as a solution. Would we not have a much more just and happy society if we were free of both fascism and/or communism. Where honest productive people are not drained of resources and can make their communities a better place to live.

  3. “argument for socialism or communism”…no. It’s just a graph showing the reality. If a “fact” is an “argument,” maybe you’re saying the facts support that argument!

    The real point of the web site is to show the effect this maldistribution of income has on democracy.

  4. Great metaphor.

    I believe United For a Fair Economy out of Boston, MA, has been using this kind of analysis in public workshops very effectively.

    One variation is to have 10 people sit down in chairs, then have them get up and go to parts of the room while 10% (usually 1 person) remains seated. When I used it to drive home the point, I had two chocolate bars…The top 10% got the whole bar to themselves. The rest had to split it while packed in the corner without much room to move.

  5. What happens today is that the 95% are at the beck and call of the 5%. This is because the 95% believe so strongly in the concept of money as a symbol of control. Money in today’s system is debt. If you have money in today’s system, the interpretation is that someone owes you something.

    To improve their lot, what the 95% have to do is to start helping one another, even perhaps at the expense of rejecting money from the 5%. Some things the 95% can do to help themselves are: start formal or informal barter systems, do business locally, develop and use a local currency, use gold or silver as an alternate currency to deal with each other. The article had a link that had suggestions on how people could talk and listen to one another. That really is where it starts – the 95% have to learn how to talk and listen to each other.

  6. There must be some ground between this and communism. Don’t you think Hegel? Do you think things are going fine this way? Please don’t talk about socialism unless you really know what it is. The US and many other western countries are much closer to it then the citizen’s think. It’s socialism for the privileged few, as was proved by the banking bailout.

  7. Seems like an argument for socialism or communism, verdad? At least — on the surface. The truth is that socialism or communism would make this chart even more extreme.

Comments are closed.