Haves and have nots: Income inequality at an all time high in the U.S.

Over the past decades, institutional racism and inequality in education, medical insurance, financial resources and other aspects have greatly widened the gap between the rich and the poor in America. In 2018, according to the Gini coefficient, the household income distribution in the United States rose to 0.485, showing the highest level in the of wealth gap over the past fifty years. According to a Bloomberg report last year, while the top 1% of Americans have a combined net worth of $34.2 trillion, the poorest 50% — about 165 million people — hold just $2.08 trillion, or 1.9% of all household wealth. The 50 richest Americans are worth as much as the poorest 165 million. Official statistics show that the wealth gap in America has reached its highest point since the Great Depression in the 1930s.

The America economy has grown slowly during the past 40 years. The benefits of this economic growth have fallen to the richest 10% of Americans, while the other 90% of people do not earn much at all and even have to borrow money from the richest 10% people.

Bernie Sanders, a US senator, said that “the rich-poor gap in America is obscene.” He believed that “the issue of income and wealth inequality is one of the great moral, economic and political crises that we face – and it must be dealt with.”