Sunday, January 2, 2011

The Real Cost of Income Inequality

     Nicholas Kristof writes in the NY Times today about the cost to society of steep wealth inequality.

     Now, especially after having recently posted about my limited math skills, I don't want to wade in too deep here, but I went looking for a statistic ranking the states on that subject. and here's what I found:





 
     Other than New York, we here in Alabama, and some of our neighbors, have the widest income inequality in America. Here's the link to the blog that posted the map.
     That blogger writes: the GDP per capita in the US is one of the highest in the world. But more of that wealth is concentrated in the hands of relatively few people, meaning fewer people (relative to that high per capita GDP) are well-off.


    If you look at the criteria cited in Kristof's column---teen pregnancy, drug use, heart disease, violent crime---Alabama certainly have higher rankings than most other states.
    Is it inequality of income, rather than just plain poverty that gives us those grim stats?

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