Inequality... Not Just a United States Issue

I came across this video and thought it was an interesting and shocking way to illustrate the disparity of wealth distribution in the United States. I was floored when I saw how large the gap is between the top 1% of wealthy people and the rest of the country. It's clear from the charts shown that the majority of Americans (or at least those sampled) are also unaware of just how prevalent wealth inequality is. Murray discusses the growing upper class as well as the growing lower class and provides insightful depictions of what life is like for these two groups, but I was not able to get a clear sense of just how large the gap has grown in recent years until I saw the numbers displayed as clearly as they are here.

Towards the end of the video, the narrator says, "we certainly don't have to go all the way to socialism to find something that is fair for hardworking Americans."

Well how far exactly do we have to go to find a solution to economic inequality? I found this article about legislation that has been recently introduced to combat inequality in Switzerland, which currently ranks far better than the U.S. in regards to economic inequality. The "1 to 12 initiative" was put to a national referendum last week, which would have capped CEO pay at 12 times the amount that the lowest-paid company employee makes. The proposal did not pass, likely because would clearly have had negative effects on the Swiss economy, hurting competition and making it more difficult for Switzerland to attract talented workers. However, this shows that nations around the world are getting serious about inequality and attempting to solve the problem through legislation.

*** Inequality is a complex issue and can thus be depicted many different ways, making it possible for data and figures to be misrepresented. It is important to note that in the video above, the main focus is on wealth inequality, not income inequality. The difference between the two, and further criticism of the "Wealth Inequality in America" video is given in this other video.