States With the Widest Gap Between Rich and Poor

States With the Widest Gap Between Rich and Poor

By T. C. Frohlich and A. E.M. Hess | 247wallst.com | October 22, 2014 6:06 am EDT
Excerpts:

"Income inequality has grown so severe in recent years that Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen described it as a source of great concern. In a speech earlier this month Yellen said, “The distribution of income and wealth in the United States has been widening more or less steadily for several decades, to a greater extent than in most advanced countries.”

In some parts of the U.S., the problem of income inequality is especially pronounced. Based on the Gini coefficient, which measures the degree to which incomes deviate from perfect equality, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the states with the widest gap between the rich and the poor. Last year, New York was the most unequal state in the nation.

David Cooper, economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, said that “the root of income inequality really is the stagnation in pay and wages for the vast majority of Americans.” Cooper explained that while most people generate their incomes from wages, the wealthiest Americans generate income from returns on capital. When wages stagnate and more income is generated through investments, the income gap is exacerbated.

To identify the states with the worst income inequality, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed Gini coefficient figures from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2013 American Community Survey (ACS). The Gini coefficient reflects the degree to which an area’s incomes deviate from a perfectly equal income distribution.

We also utilized ACS data on poverty rates, income distribution among households, the percentage of households receiving SNAP benefits/food stamps, and the distribution of employment by industry. Figures for average annual unemployment and the percentage of hourly workers earning the minimum wage or less are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 2013."

see:
http://247wallst.com/special-report/2014/10/22/states-with-the-widest-gap-between-rich-and-poor/
......

"These are the states with the widest gap between rich and poor

10. New Jersey
> Gini coefficient: 0.4800
> Median household income: $70,165 (3rd highest)
> Households earning $200,000+: 9.7% (the highest)
> Population living below poverty line: 11.4% (8th lowest)

9. Texas
> Gini coefficient: 0.4807
> Median household income: $51,704 (23rd highest)
> Households earning $200,000+: 5.1% (14th highest)
> Population living below poverty line: 17.5% (13th highest)

8. Illinois
> Gini coefficient: 0.4824
> Median household income: $56,210 (17th highest)
> Households earning $200,000+: 5.6% (10th highest)
> Population living below poverty line: 14.7% (25th lowest)

7. Massachusetts
> Gini coefficient: 0.4837 (tied-6th highest)
> Median household income: $66,768 (6th highest)
> Households earning $200,000+: 8.3% (4th highest)
> Population living below poverty line: 11.9% (11th lowest)

6. Georgia
> Gini coefficient: 0.4837 (tied-6th highest)
> Median household income: $47,829 (18th lowest)
> Households earning $200,000+: 3.9% (tied-21st highest)
> Population living below poverty line: 19.0% (5th highest)

5. Florida
> Gini coefficient: 0.4843
> Median household income: $46,036 (12th lowest)
> Households earning $200,000+: 3.9% (tied-21st highest)
> Population living below poverty line: 17.0% (15th highest)

4. California
> Gini coefficient: 0.4903
> Median household income: $60,190 (10th highest)
> Households earning $200,000+: 7.7% (6th highest)
> Population living below poverty line: 16.8% (16th highest)

3. Louisiana
> Gini coefficient: 0.4914
> Median household income: $44,164 (8th lowest)
> Households earning $200,000+: 3.6% (25th highest)
> Population living below poverty line: 19.8% (3rd highest)

2. Connecticut
> Gini coefficient: 0.4994
> Median household income: $67,098 (5th highest)
> Households earning $200,000+: 9.3% (2nd highest)
> Population living below poverty line: 10.7% (4th lowest)

1. New York
> Gini coefficient: 0.5098
> Median household income: $57,369 (16th highest)
> Households earning $200,000+: 7.3% (7th highest)
> Population living below poverty line: 16.0% (20th highest) "
......
see:
http://247wallst.com/special-report/2014/10/22/states-with-the-widest-gap-between-rich-and-poor/2/
.......

IMO: We need an immediate tax on the wealthy 1%ers at about the same as they were taxed before under republican administrations...90%...and a graduated tax for everyone earning more than $200,000. Under that we need another graduated tax to the middle class citizens, the last portion of workers who work on minimum wage, would pay nothing.

That this was allowed to happen with all the subsidies, perks, incentives, and lower tax rates than the middle class pays is just fraudulent in it's loopholes and favoritism. It is the middle class and poor that need incentives, lower taxes, not the wealthy. We need to eradicate the loopholes and incentives that are given to the wealthy and make them pay their full share of taxes, like everyone else.

 

Janet Yellen? The Chair-creature of the Federal Reserve combine is decrying wealth-inequality as "a source of great concern"? What a pantload! Everything the ****ing Federal Reserve has done since August 2007 is rig the economics game so that investment bankers and stock market gamblers have not only been "rescued", they've become FABULOUSLY WEALTHY!

The Fed generated all this extra "bank-money" and let the bankers belly-up to the Fed's discount window. The banks got billions upon billions and didn't have to do anything but SIT on it all, paying microscopic interest to the public, but making far more than that because of their unique status with the Fed! The Fed has squashed interest rates down to microscopic levels and overturned every law of a free-market economic system. So, Janet Yellen is upset at "wealth redistribution"? Just once I wish this Forum would, without its childish application of silly censorship, let us use the only word that adequately describes hypocrisy as blatant as Janet Yellen's -- BULL****!

 

Only 3 red states out of 10 with Widest Gap Between Rich and Poor. I guess in Blues states they rob from the poor and give to themselves.

 

Notice the bogusness here. We are given a listing of ten "top worst states" with a truly neglible difference between the numbers. .48 to .51 GINI coefficient (which is a BS measure of its own). That's a "whopping" 6% difference between 1 and 10. Wonder what the spread is between the best and worst in the country, 8%? LOL. Lesson in how to take a statistically insignificant variation and look like a ranking towards "newsworthiness."

 

Even if you confiscated all of the 1%'ers wealth, it still wouldn't be enough.

Wake up for God Sakes!

[video=youtube;cdbRKfXyQEw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdbRKfXyQEw[/video]

 

Look up income inequality by congressional district or local government and party affiliation and you'll realize that the Democrats are full of... tripe when they talk about reducing income inequality.

 

I know Georgia's tied for #6, but I'm fairly sure that if we re-elect our Repubs and continue on the current path plus add more right wing goodies, we can hit #1 in no time at all.

 

Why are progressives so obsessed with punishing the successful?

Has it ever occurred to you that the successful are rich for a REASON?

How can you possibly be a proponent of a 90% tax rate on the wealthy, along with a graduated tax on those earning more than $200,000? Are you insane? That would be disastrous to the economy, as well as job creation. If big business owners are being taxed a higher rate, then it would subsequently be more difficult for them to keep employing more people. On top of that, you liberals want to raise the minimum wage, which would make it even more difficult! It is apparent that you have never taken the time to think this through.

If you lefties really believed in "fairness" and "equality," you would support everyone paying the same amount in taxes. The fact is you don't; you clearly know absolutely nothing about business incentives, corporate growth, job creation, and the function of the U.S. economy as a whole.

 

Surprises me since Virginia has some of the wealthiest and poorest counties in the country. The DC suburbs clock something like 3 times the median income in some of the southwestern stretches of the Old Dominion.

 

This thread, IMO, is a direct reflection of one of the major problems in the USA today...self-serving and greedy Americans!

In what possible way can you fathom that the wealthy should pay 100% of the taxation in this country? They already pay 85% of the taxes and you want more from them? Too bad you cannot think through the downside of such a taxation scheme?

Everything about this sickens me since the once great USA is becoming a welfare state. Apparently your lower and middle classes are complete failures...no options for them...their world is economically imploding...where is Jim Jones when we need him?

All these so-called Americans want others to give them money and in return what do the others and the country receive...absolutely nothing!

Those Americans who are mentally and physically incapable of taking care of themselves...no problem and the nation needs to support them. All the other ticks in the USA are nothing but whining failures and want everyone else to solve their self-imposed problems...

 

the fascist left's wealth gap hysteria is code for wealth redistribution at the barrel of a government gun.

 

Gonna bring back the same loopholes too? Would only be fair. Why is it that the left is so eager to steal from other people to grow a bloated bureaucracy even more?

 

Reaganist tax rates and policies pander to the rich, and the gap will grow until they're changed. See if you can spot the trend lol:

The Demise of the American Middle Class In Numbers.

Over the past 30 years the American dream has gradually disappeared. The process was slow, so most people didn’t notice. They just worked a few more hours, borrowed a little more and cut back on non-essentials. But looking at the numbers and comparing them over long time periods, it is obvious that things have changed drastically. Here are the details:

1. WORKERS PRODUCE MORE BUT THE GAINS GO TO BUSINESS.

Over the past 63 years worker productivity has grown by 2.0% per year.

But after 1980, workers received a smaller share every year. Labor’s share of income (1992 = 100%):

1950 = 101%
1960 = 105%
1970 = 105%
1980 = 105% – Reagan
1990 = 100%
2000 = 96%
2007 = 92%

A 13% drop since 1980

2. THE TOP 10% GET A LARGER SHARE.

Share of National Income going to Top 10%:

1950 = 35%
1960 = 34%
1970 = 34%
1980 = 34% – Reagan
1990 = 40%
2000 = 47%
2007 = 50%

An increase of 16% since Reagan.

3. WORKERS COMPENSATED FOR THE LOSS OF INCOME BY SPENDING THEIR SAVINGS.

The savings Rose up to Reagan and fell during and after.

1950 = 6.0%
1960 = 7.0%
1970 = 8.5%
1980 = 10.0% – Reagan
1982 = 11.2% – Peak
1990 = 7.0%
2000 = 2.0%
2006 = -1.1% (Negative = withdrawing from savings)

A 12.3% drop after Reagan.

4. WORKERS ALSO BORROWED TO MAKE UP FOR THE LOSS.

Household Debt as percentage of GDP:

1965 = 46%
1970 = 45%
1980 = 50% – Reagan
1990 = 61%
2000 = 69%
2007 = 95%

A 45% increase after 1980.

5. SO THE GAP BETWEEN THE RICHEST AND THE POOREST HAS GROWN.

Gap Between the Share of Capital Income earned by the top 1%
and the bottom 80%:

1980 = 10%
2003 = 56%

A 5.6 times increase.

6. AND THE AMERICAN DREAM IS GONE.

The Probably of Moving Up from the Bottom 40% to the Top 40%:

1945 = 12%
1958 = 6%
1990 = 3%
2000 = 2%

A 10% Decrease.

Links:

1 = ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/pf/totalf1.txt
1 = https://www.clevelandfed.org/Research/PolicyDis/No7Nov04.pdf
1 = http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Zh1bveXc8rA/SuddUhLWUaI/AAAAAAAAA7M/iU2gefk317M/s1600-h/Clipboard01.jpg
2 – http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/blog/09/04/27/CongratulationstoEmmanuelSaez/
3 = http://www.demos.org/inequality/images/charts/uspersonalsaving_thumb.gif
3 = http://www.bea.gov/national/nipaweb...able=58&Freq=Qtr&FirstYear=2008&LastYear=2010
4 = http://www.prudentbear.com/index.php/household-sector-debt-of-gdp
4 = http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/current/
5/6 = http://www.businessinsider.com/15-c...lity-in-america-2010-4?slop=1#slideshow-start

Overview = http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010062415/reagan-revolution-home-roost-charts

 

NOT! To invest in our infrastructure, falling apart for 30 years, and invest in training and education for our work force. 3 million tech jobs going begging...But thanks for the stupid, out of date mythology...

 

Fascist is Rightist. Hitler loved corporations (Messerschmidt, Krupp, Toldt etc etc)...

See wealth distribution under Voodoo fcs...in #13.

 

Funny Colorado didn't make the list. We have a flat state income tax. Where's the horror?

I also noticed they excluded Washington DC. It has a gini coefficient over .5.

 

"Tax the rich!".....geez, America hating left wing democrats sound like a broken record.

Here is why that logic is stupid. Why are the rich getting richer? Investment in the stock market who h has been doing well. Why has it been doing well? Because of the money printing done by the government to prop up the economy.

Why is everyone else not doing so well? Because the economy isn't doing so well. All this phony hoopla of jobs numbers is hogwash. The jobs being created aren't good enough for people to prosper.

The America hating left wing democrats love to demonize the rich when it is the government that is mucking everything up.

 

So, growing government even more than progressives have in the past with the same results of the last 60 years. No thanks.

 

Great idea unless they are called "Shovel ready jobs".

 

“When the people find that they can vote themselves money that will herald the end of the republic.” ― Benjamin Franklin

 

If you obsess over income inequality -- you are envious. If you are in favor of more taxes on the wealthy -- you are envious. If you think some people make too much money -- you are envious. Ask yourself why you are envious. Ask yourself why you wish to punish others who have more than you. Envy is one of the seven deadly sins. Envy is like jealously. Are you jealous of other's status and rewards? Anyone who is concerned over income inequality is the same thing as a child crying because another kid has a piece of candy. Those who obsess over income inequality need to grow up.

 

I guess it started somewhere around the time Reagan was elected and the really wealthy in this country decided to use their wealth to obtain even more power. Why? To get more money, of course and the only place it could come from was everybody else, particularly the middle class as our new poster from Warsaw has pointed out. It's not so much that progressives are obsessed, but it's simply fighting back with the one power we all have - the vote.

Has it ever occurred to you that they've become even more successful for a REASON (that has nothing to do with their abilities or lucky breaks)?

Those of us who've taken the time to look into various taxation methods long ago rejected the simplistic allure of radical right wing adventures. We are also well aware that a thriving (and consuming) middle class is necessary for continued growth and the economic health of the country. We have also seen the results of trickle down economic theory put into practice and do not wish to make the same mistakes again.

 

Rich people have been trying to do all they can to get richer since money was created. History didnt start with Reagan...

 

I still blame Obama cause he is a Kenyan and has secretly controlled everything even before he was born

 

I think you spelled Keynesian wrong.