Washington’s Blog / Global Research & Laura Flanders / AlterNet Blog – 2011-02-01 21:42:04

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22999

(January 29, 2011) — Egyptian, Tunisian and Yemeni protesters all say that inequality is one of the main reasons they’re protesting. However, the US actually has much greater inequality than in any of those countries. Specifically, the “Gini Coefficient” — the figure economists use to measure inequality — is higher in the US

Gini Coefficients are like golf — the lower the score, the better (i.e. the more equality).

According to the CIA World Fact Book, the US is ranked as the 42nd most unequal country in the world, with a Gini Coefficient of 45.

In contrast:
* Tunisia is ranked the 62nd most unequal country, with a Gini Coefficient of 40.
* Yemen is ranked 76th most unequal, with a Gini Coefficient of 37.7.
* And Egypt is ranked as the 90th most unequal country, with a Gini Coefficient of around 34.4.
* And inequality in the US has soared in the last couple of years, since the Gini Coefficient was last calculated, so it is undoubtedly currently much higher.

So why are Egyptians rioting, while the Americans are complacent?

Well, Americans — until recently — have been some of the wealthiest people in the world, with most having plenty of comforts (and/or entertainment) and more than enough to eat.

But another reason is that — as Dan Ariely of Duke University and Michael I. Norton of Harvard Business School demonstrate — Americans consistently underestimate the amount of inequality in our nation.

As William Alden wrote last September:
Americans vastly underestimate the degree of wealth inequality in America, and we believe that the distribution should be far more equitable than it actually is, according to a new study.

Or, as the study’s authors put it: “All demographic groups — even those not usually associated with wealth redistribution such as Republicans and the wealthy — desired a more equal distribution of wealth than the status quo.”

The report … “Building a Better America — One Wealth Quintile At A Time” by Dan Ariely of Duke University and Michael I. Norton of Harvard Business School … shows that across ideological, economic and gender groups, Americans thought the richest 20 percent of our society controlled about 59 percent of the wealth, while the real number is closer to 84 percent.

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Inequality Drives Egyptians to Streets, But Ours Worse
Laura Flanders / AlterNet Blog

It’s amazing what inequality can drive people to, eventually. Just look at Egypt.

“These big guys are stealing all the money,” one 24-year-old textile worker standing at his second job as a fruit peddler told a reporter this weekend. “People are desperate.”

“I wish we could be like the United States with a democracy, but we cannot,” said another.