Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Why There Will Always Be a 1%

I mean, beyond basic math and statistics.

2 comments:

PeppermintPanda said...

One thing I have been trying to compile but have been unable to find adequate data-sets for is how much "inequality" is actually expected.

From what I have seen, the vast majority of statistics published about inequality do nothing to control for increasing income and wealth as people age. When people first start out in the employment they usually earn around minimum wage and work part time and have no real wealth; but by the time they're in their mid 30s they're earning substantially more per hour (3 to 8 times as much), working longer (2 to 4 times as long), and have built some wealth through home ownership and investment. By the time people are nearing retirement people are often earning more than their mid-career income because they've taken on a leadership role, and their wealth has skyrocketed because of decades of investment and compounding investment returns.

Beyond all of this, harder working and more frugal people are going to see greater increases in income and investments over their lifetime compared to the average person.

When you combine all of this, I wouldn't be surprised to see that the inequality we currently see as falling within expected ranges. After all, the top 10% of the 60 to 65 population have probably saved up millions of dollars for retirement and are earning an income far above $100,00 per year; and the bottom 10% of the 20 to 25 population are probably earning less than $10,000 per year with a massively negative net worth.

Anonymous said...

I work for the 0%.

All 100% of you are in big trouble.