The Wealthometer - Where are you slotted in the U.S. of A?
Most (all?) discussions about inequality in the USA end up getting side-tracked and/or derailed for one simple reason - most people are unaware of where they actually are on the scale. Or, to put it differently
Surveys reveal that the majority of people (no matter whether they are poor or rich) believe that their position is in the middle of the distribution of wealth and income. It seems likely that part of the reason for this is that we primarily know people in a similar economic situation as ourselves, and that we have a hard time imagining that others are significantly richer or poorer than ourselves.
To put it in chart form
And now, to really hammer this home, Maximilian Kasy of Harvard's Econ Dept has put together the Wealthometer. Plug in a few quick numbers, and see exactly how misinformed you are!
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