Census Bureau Chart Substantiates the

¶ … Census Bureau chart substantiates the claim that "the rich get richer, while the poor get poorer." Changes in real family income reflect this disturbing trend. The bottom 20% of Americans earn less than $25, 616 per year and between 1979 and 2005 their income actually dropped by about one percent. On the other hand, the top 20% of Americans earn more than $103,100 and that group of people enjoyed a 53% income increase between those same years. The gap between rich and poor grows in a seemingly exponential pattern.

The biggest income increase, an astonishing 81%, was savored only by the super rich: the 5% of Americans who earn at least $184,500. The Census Bureau chart also shows that the more money a person makes in America, the more that money will grow over time. Of course, this trend leads to ever-increasing income disparity because it takes money to make money. The more money a family has, the more money that family has for investments.

The Census Bureau chart shows how difficult it is to build wealth without having any to begin with; this puts most American families at risk. Hard work simply does not pay off for the majority of Americans, many of whom work more than one job but cannot save enough to invest in any meaningful way. Possessing less money leaves the majority of American families more vulnerable to inflation, as family income will not grow in tandem with the cost of living.

Income disparity is usually viewed as one of the problems with developing nations. Yet this chart proves that the United States is beginning to mirror the Third World. The United States demonstrates "the most inequitable distribution of income of all the industrialized nations and the middle class is in serious decline," ("Growing Income Disparity and the Middle Class Squeeze" nd). As the Census Bureau chart shows, the United States is losing -- or has already lost -- its beloved middle class.

A true middle class would be represented as a large block of people in the center of the income growth chart when in fact the bulk of income is located toward the right of the chart. Income growth that is equitable would mean a chart that was relatively even across the boards or at least one that resembles a bell curve. Income disparity has tremendous implications for social justice. On a very practical level, most Americans do not and cannot wield social or political power.

Ordinary employees do not make an impact on corporate decision making or on large-scale spending -- let alone how to steer political lobbying groups. Those who work hard for little pay also have little to offer their children in terms of upward social mobility. A politically disenfranchised group of working poor cannot contribute to business growth. Race and gender are also correlated with income disparity, showing that all are not created equal in the United States. Furthermore, access to quality higher education remains the domain of the rich.

With greater economic power, the very wealthy also have more control over how the market behaves overall. Income disparity is.