Thursday, February 20, 2014

Inequality - the way things just are

Arizona’s richest 1 percent earn 20 times more than the average state resident. They also accounted for 84 percent of the state’s income growth for a 28-year period leading up to the Great Recession. Arizona’s wealthiest even saw their incomes grow 5.9 percent during the recession while the rest of earners lost income. Arizona’s top 1 percent have an average income of $713,300. That compares with $35,400 for the rest of Arizonans.

The spread is even larger in California, Nevada, Florida and Northeastern states. According economists Estelle Sommeiller and Mark Price. “Our study shows that this one percent economy is not just a national story but is evident in every state, and every region.”

U.S. nationally, the top 1% average income $1.04 million and for the bottom 99% - $42.7 thousand

From 1979 to 2007, the wealthiest 1 percent of U.S. households saw their incomes grow by 201 percent, compared with 19 percent growth for the bottom 99 percent of income earners. During the recession, income levels for the wealthiest one percent grew by 11.5 percent versus a drop of 1 percent for everyone else. The top 1 percent nationally earn 24.4 times more than the rest of American households, according to the economists. In Arizona, incomes for the wealthiest grew by 158 percent from 1979 to 2007 compared with a meager 3 percent for the rest of state’s households.

Arizona’s rebound from the recession has been slow with wages stunted, a job market still subdued and housing still in recovery. The housing market may again be slowing. Sales of single-family homes were down 17 percent from December 2012 to this December. Town-home/condo sales were down 11 percent.

From here


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