How Successful People Make The Most Of Their Weekends. 9 Out Of 10 Americans Are Completely Wrong About This Mind-Blowing Fact. There's a chart I saw recently that I can't get out of my head.
A Harvard business professor and economist asked more than 5,000 Americans how they thought wealth was distributed in the United States. This is what they said they thought it was. Dividing the country into five rough groups of the top, bottom, and middle three 20% groups, they asked people how they thought the wealth in this country was divided. Then he asked them what they thought was the ideal distribution, and 92%, that's at least 9 out of 10 of them, said it should be more like this, in other words more equitable than they think it is.
Now that fact is telling, admittedly, the notion that most Americans know that the system is already skewed unfairly. So ignore the ideal for a moment. But let's look at it another way, because I find this chart kind of difficult to wrap my head around. So here's that ideal we asked everyone about. But let's move on. Sadly, this isn't even close to the reality.
1079ckLARGE-drone-assassina.jpg (864×1146) George_orwell_with_quotes.jpg (648×500) Scholarly Things :) Yes-its-exactly-how-they-think. June 23th to June 30th, 2012 "Someone asked me if I believe in conspiracies.." -Jeffrey Tucker. June 23th to June 30th, 2012 "I will not idly stand by while law enforcement..." Ray Lewis retired Police Captain arrested at OWS. June 23th to June 30th, 2012 "I could never understand.." - George Carlin. June 23th to June 30th, 2012 "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it." -Buddha. Cash-hoarders.jpg (500×383) Christianpersecution.jpg (600×408) 462px-Pyramid_of_Capitalist_System.png (462×599) 02-2012-01-41-35-thedalailamawhenaskedwhatsurprisedhimmostabouthumanityansweredmanbecausehesacrificeshishealthinordertomakemoney.jpeg (720×490)
Constitution.jpg (720×720) Generation-11-10-11-color.jpg (2250×1721) Growing Economic Inequality 'Endangers Our Future' Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz grew up in Gary, Ind. — a city that has weathered many economic storms over the past half-century.
Stiglitz went on to study at Amherst College and MIT, where he received a Ph.D. in economics. He later served on and chaired President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers and became the chief economist at the World Bank. But even as a child, Stiglitz says, he noticed ways in which the markets weren't working. "I saw discrimination lead to poverty, I saw episodic high levels of unemployment, I saw business cycles, and I saw all kinds of inequalities," he tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "It was clear that America wasn't quite the dream that was depicted in some textbooks, and I wanted to understand why those textbooks were wrong and I wanted really to make a contribution to do something about it. " "I very strongly opposed [lowering the tax rate]," he says.
The past 30 years have been markedly different for the middle class, says Stiglitz.