Income inequality is an increasing problem. I've envisioned a simple diagram to highlight the problem and to ask people where they think we stand. Think of a cube. The vertical axis represents time, and let's make the bottom of the cube the year 1776. The top of the cube is some year in the future. Any horizontal plane within the cube represents the total population of the country for that year.
Now picture a pyramid set within the cube. The bottom four corners of the pyramid fit into the four bottom corners of the cube, and the pyramid's peak touches the center of the cube's top. Any horizontal slice of the pyramid represents the fraction of the total population that controls 90 percent of the country's total wealth for that year.
Back in 1776, the bottom of the cube and pyramid, wealth, as it were, is spread more evenly across the population. The question is, where are we now on the pyramid? What happens as we approach the pyramid's peak, the singularity when all wealth is concentrated in very few hands?
Recently, either Forbes or Fortune reported that the top 400 wealthiest Americans made more money last year than the bottom 150 MILLION Americans. That certainly adjusted my thinking of where we stand on the pyramid. The reduction of capital gains taxes, lowered income taxes, the battle to eliminate estate taxes, the offshoring of American jobs and the stashing of profits offshore to avoid tax payment, and the Citizens United decision allowing greater influence on elections by wealthy individuals are all combining to accelerate our climb up the pyramid.
Where do you think we stand on this pyramid? Are you concerned? What steps can be taken to redistribute the wealth? I don't begrudge anyone their wealth, except when the game is rigged, and it is increasingly rigged in the wealthy's favor.