Income Inequality Rising In Most Wealthy Countries, OECD Finds

Scales continue to tip in the rich's favor the world around.

Income inequality -- the gap between a society's richest members and its poorest -- is rising not only in the United States but in most of the world's major economies, according to a new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Since 1985, income inequality has grown more pronounced in 17 of the 22 countries for which the OECD has long-term data, including Mexico, Italy, Japan, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

The OECD's report suggests an explanation for why the Occupy Wall Street movement has grown from a single protest site in New York's Zuccotti Park to a global phenomenon with hundreds of chapters in dozens of countries. Among other things, protesters in the Occupy movement say they oppose the concentration of wealth in the hands of fewer and fewer people.

In the United States, the incomes of the very highest earners have grown by leaps and bounds over the last quarter century, while remaining more or less flat for the vast majority of the population.

Comparable growth in the wealth gap has taken place in Germany, Finland, Israel, Sweden, Luxembourg and New Zealand, according to the OECD. Only five countries -- Greece, Turkey, France, Belgium and Hungary -- saw their levels of income inequality decline or remain constant.

Income inequality has been linked to a number of troubling economic trends, and some analysts believe the wealth gap is contributing to the slow rate of recovery for the global economy.

Earlier this year, a study in the newsletter of the International Monetary Fund suggested that a country is more likely to enjoy a sustained period of growth if it has a relatively equitable distribution of income -- meaning that for the wealthy, high-inequality nations named in the OECD report, bouncing back from the worldwide recession may be taking longer than it needs to.

Income inequality has also been cited as a catalyzing factor for a number of protest movements around the globe, including the riots in England this summer and the Arab Spring uprisings in the Middle East on which the Occupy Wall Street movement has been patterned.

An OECD press release notes that income inequality, besides affecting the wealthy member-nations of the organization, is also a major concern in many of the developing countries outside of it. The correlation between a nation's wealth gap and its poverty and social and political instability was suggested earlier this year, when The Atlantic published a world map color-coded by inequality. China, Brazil, Rwanda, Uganda, Cote d'Ivoire and Serbia all had high levels of income inequality -- as did the United States.

 

Comments

[relentless63]

01:50 PM on 12/08/2011

The devastating results of this increasing wealth discrepancy has been designed and hard fought for by conservatives all over the globe who believe their lives are more valuable than those of their neighbors and they don’t even notice the multitudes of people preparing to hit the proverbial street. Can’t be helped. There are none so bind as those who refuse to see.

[iflew]

01:40 PM on 12/07/2011

Inequality is in some ways inherited like a higher IQ, being tall, attractive, or unusually disease resistant by chromosomes. The problem with income inequality is that it is too often neither earned or deserved.

[hegelian]

03:28 AM on 12/07/2011

Inequality is not only vulgar it is the epitome of violence. Is it not violence when a small population can own a majority of financial, and physical resources while the rest of the world is conned into competing with each other for the rest? Is it not violence when a small group of people can pollute our air, our water, and land while they at the same time use our labor to design their "green" systems for their own leisure? Is it not violence when they can find money to kill other people and cannot find money for investing in our children futures, or even our healthcare. Is it not violence when the government who is essentially the elite, spends money to build new prisons and create new apartheids in order to punish people for their poverty in order to hide them as bad consumers?

"The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, said "This is mine," and found people naïve enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows: Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody. ”

— Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on Inequality, 1754

[Jestnow]

08:20 AM on 12/20/2011

Some people have an insatiable desire/need to control others. In underdeveloped countries control is maintained via fear. In modern day developed societies control is maintained via manipulation of markets and hoarding by the wealthy. There is one last hope: As much as nature always tends to fill a vacuum, there is also abhorrence of imbalance.

[NotaLiborCon]

06:33 PM on 12/06/2011

I haven't heard anything out of OWS since before Thanksgiving? Are you folks still out there "taking down" the 1%? I'm a little worried about you folks. You seem to running out of all that steam you had going. Hmph...

[surferjay]

07:55 PM on 12/06/2011

Thousands join OWS every day, worldwide. Huffington Post has a page dedicated to OWS. Many many people all over the world have realized at the same moment that we are being terribly ripped off by most corporations and governments! And more proof that OWS is going strong is that you posted a comment about OWS!!!

[NotaLiborCon]

11:16 PM on 12/06/2011

Nah this is the only place I see anything about OWS anymore. I hadn't thought about it or seen anything until today when I saw the story about the ballerina that was going to dance on the wall street bull and I thought, heck I hadn't heard anything lately....

[CropCircles]

05:34 PM on 12/06/2011

The Dilbert cartoon strip for today, Dec. 6, 2011 is right on target. The following link will get you there.

http://www.dilbert.com/

After today you will need to specify the date you want.

It's perfect!!

[GrumpyinAZ]

05:30 PM on 12/06/2011

The same parasitic 1%ers who bled our economy dry stole theirs with phoney money swaps. Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland even Uzbeki, beki,beki,beki,stani, stan had no control over these criminals

[Wisdom4U]

02:08 PM on 12/06/2011

Capitalism is setup as the more you have the more opportunities you have and can capitalize on. I liken this to betting at the Casino the house always wins in the end because their pockets are deepest thus they can always gamble until the less affluent is out of money, sort of a waiting game. In the US we have had unregulated "pro-business" capitalism of which the 1% is getting too large of a slice of the American pie so there is not enough to feed the rest of the 99%. The successful should prosper but they should not prosper at the expense of the majority of the population and this success should not be detrimental to the econ system or American way of life. Selling fraudulent CD swaps insured with fraudulent AIG insurance and "shorting selling" the American economy was and is UNPATRIOTIC. There is a thin line that must be walked in being Super Rich vs Too Rich and immorally greedy. I liken this to a parasite if the parasite feeds too much the host can die and now America is dying so we need to reduce the effect of the Super Rich parasite wealth consumption so America can grow again. Occupied Wall Street is forward thinking trying to avert a disaster as currently the 1% has removed the incentive to follow capitalism as the Super Rich have sucked all of the wealth and life out of the American Dream.

[Wisdom4U]

02:39 PM on 12/06/2011

Further-

The effect of unregulated crony capitalism has been a true unemployment rate over 20% even though taxes have been historically low for over 10 years. With the unofficial unaffordable "Wealthy Bailout" called Bush tax cuts or Corporate Bailouts, where are the jobs, this has led to middle class unrest. The middle class majority are not lazy non-workers and did not over spend, their housing is underwater and their debt is increasing just to survive this is a modern Great Depression this income disparity cannot be sustained and W.Buffet other patriotic wealthy understand this so they scream tax me and the 1% more so America can survive which is admirable. The bottom line is usually when the Rich are consuming too much wealth the US Gov steps in and raises taxes on the top bracket and creates social programs to even the playing field so the Middle class can open a viable business and have goal oriented hard work to reach success. If the Rich are banding together and the larger business are banding together to consume small businesses and immorally taking jobs away from the very place their goods are sold we all lose. Not one wealthy person made it without the help of the 99% intellectual equity or labor so why is it then the 1% wealth MINORITY and their rightest bandwagon of significantly poorer followers believe that the 1% achieved their success alone without the 99% or the help of Gov regulations or deregulation?

[Greg Gorelick]

12:09 AM on 07/31/2012

"Capitalism is setup as the more you have the more opportunities you have and can capitalize on."

Wow duh, that's DEEP!!!!

[Sooladgaf]

12:52 PM on 12/06/2011

You know, I'm reading all these post about how the rich don't need that much money. One poster said tha OWS is demanding the rich to trade thier obscene lifestyle for a "more liveable, renewable life". What is of anyone's concern what they spend their money on? What I find obsurd and obscene is a bunch of 18-30 yr olds making $50k or less buying $500 iphones / $800 ipads / $200 Jordans. If you put it in matter of perspective, it's the middle class and poor that are living obsurdly......How many paychecks did it set them back?? You see today's society has taught people that everyone deserves a the same lifestyle. I disagree!! No everyone is entitled to it. The are all entitled to ability to acheive.

[Yota Daga]

01:42 PM on 12/06/2011

Yeah, tell that to the banks, who are ruining the economy with their $7 Trillion taxpayer bailout or republicans giving their Iraq failure another $3.7 Trillion!

[Sooladgaf]

01:59 PM on 12/06/2011

where in my post did I reference anything politically?? The post referenced the fact that the liberal base feels that the rich should live rich..... where's the political reference? But if you want to go political, then please lets do. Would those be the banks that Obama received large political donations? Or would be that Obama has spent more in his first term than Bush did in 8 yrs? Or would you like to talk about the Democratic Barney Franks the head of the finincial committee telling congress that Freddie and Fannie are solid companies just months before the financial crash? Or the maybe that Obama voted FOR the bank bailout....or the fact that Obama and Dems want more "stimilus" money to be paid out.....

[Independentproud]

12:44 PM on 12/06/2011

An interesting opion that I read on-line by Kevin McCullough:

Income inequality? Pure myth.

1. No one is guaranteed anything in this life.

2. Success comes through hard work.

3. The world is largely unfair.

4. America is the most fair/advantageous economic laboratory on the planet.

If they understood these basic concepts they would cease whining about the myth of “income inequality” and get their fannies back to their homes and begin efforts to reinvent, create, produce, and multiply (ideas.)

[Yota Daga]

01:44 PM on 12/06/2011

Sorry,but the system has collapsed on itself!,

[moutonnoir]

02:40 PM on 12/06/2011

HAH.. some guy says it, so it is true?

By that argument only 5-10 people deserve any wealth at all...

The points you make are... I am sorry, are you an 11 year old?

[kburgoyne]

12:30 PM on 12/06/2011

Now that we've establish the truth of rampant income inequality, it's time to slash multinational corporate funding for communism. The trade imbalance with China MUST be corrected. This means the Chinese government MUST agree to discontinue monetary manipulation, or the US must start imposing trade rebalancing regulations and tariffs. It is economically preferable, because it is more economically honest, if China simply discontinues their monetary manipulation.

Regardless, the multinational corporations have been funding the Chinese communist government, and the growing Chinese communist military, for far too long. The activities of the multinational corporations have become a threat to US national security. Continuing BALANCED trade is a positive thing. Continuing to ship $500B of US treasure to communist China every year to fund their growth as a power to compete with the US borders on traitorous.

[kburgoyne]

12:01 PM on 12/06/2011

Frank Luntz, the premier GOP spinster, recently told a meeting of the Republican Governors Association (RGA) to adjust their propaganda messaging. They should stop using the word "capitalism" because it has become so tainted.

When the premier GOP spinster starts telling a group of greed worshippers to stop using the word "capitalism", that's a clear and solid sign that the message of capitalist abuses is getting through.

To be clear, like the overwhelming majority of the 99% (acknowledging some exceptions), support the general concept of capitalism. The problem is not capitalism as such. The problem is unbridled capitalism allowed to run amok like Godzilla trampling through society and purchasing our democracy. Capitalism is a wonderful thing, but it DEFINITELY needs to be put back on a very tight leash.

[Yota Daga]

01:46 PM on 12/06/2011

It's called Casino Capitalism, bet the whole bank on some obscure financial instruments and when it fails, wait for a bailout.

[Aneesia]

09:41 AM on 12/06/2011

America is an icon in the business world. It is ruthlessly efficient. As for the regular person, they are being screwed left, right, and center, as more and more governments settle under the spell of Corporate corruption and its de facto control of governments in the developed world.

[Cognitive Dissident]

09:35 AM on 12/06/2011

THE GLOBALIZER'S GUIDE TO A FREE TRADE CRUSADE:

Adopt a Randian world view.

Pit the middle class against the poor with the iconic "welfare queen" who drives a Cadillac, and the poor against the middle class with the stereotypical "double-dipper".

Demonize entitlements as "dangerous socialism."

Claim that the American system of economics was based on the French Physiocrats, the Wealth of Nations and British Liberalism in general.

Wherever possible, present the false dichotomy of "capitalism" and "Marxism".

Elevate Reagan to demigod status.

Repeat the mantra, "Government is the problem."

Invidiously compare the generic "businessman" or "executive" as the honest and omnicompetent problem solver with the corrupt paternal politician and the greedy unions.

Whenever there is an economic crisis, always say "we are all responsible."

Whenever a CEO gets a gigantic bonus, or a Wall St. bank announces record profits, cast it as the achievement of the brilliant few or the CEO. "They're achievers who did it alone."

Get a cigar loving, charismatic and corpulent spokesman with some talent but no moral gravity to act as champion of "average Americans" and engage in a day by day propagandizing of the masses against their own true interests, by using talking points from the tax free foundations set up precisely for the purpose of miseducating the middle class.

Channel popular resentment against "economic hardship" and "elites" into a manipulated "grass roots" movement wherein the middle class advocate for economic policies diametrically opposed to their true interests.

[lw1]

10:53 AM on 12/06/2011

both medicare and social security benefited Ayn Rand for well over a decade prior to her poor lonely death from lung cancer.

[Renifer]

12:47 PM on 12/06/2011

Ayn Rand wrote the ideology of selfishness, so it's no wonder she was selfish to her very last breath, taking from others and giving nothing.

[Yota Daga]

01:47 PM on 12/06/2011

She was a smoker, bailing out Philip Morris

[xardvar]

09:09 AM on 12/06/2011

The world only works when the middle class works, kill the middle class and the world devolves into war and chaos and another dark ages. OWS wants to save the middle class, it wants to save the poor by making the poor middle class, what it demands of the rich is that they trade unsustainable obscene absurd life styles, for a more liveable, renewable life. Wealth is not the measure of worth or life, living, is the measure of worth and life, human beings are all in this together, we must learn to live as one, not as the one percent and all others.

[Robert Masters]

09:51 AM on 12/06/2011

The middle class is a phenomenon of the 20th century. The world was fine before it existed.

The OWS in the US is a bunch of spoiled kids who can't figure out how to turn their degrees in puppetry and womens studies into paying jobs. This is a phenomenon of the currently horrible education system. They need to go to a trade schools and learn to work.

[Independentproud]

12:26 PM on 12/06/2011

When a person in our group retires, we try to replace them with these new graduates from this generation. The inside joke (and it is no joke) is that they want the same money as the retiree and it takes two of them to do the same amount of work. It's not that they are lazy, they are just convinced that they deserve to work less for more pay.

It's just a generational mindset.

[Yota Daga]

01:49 PM on 12/06/2011

Got Guillotines?, you forgot the French with no middle class

[Eggsackley]

10:36 AM on 12/06/2011

How right you are. One of the best historical examples of this is Spain which was a great world power until they destroyed their middle classes after they expelled the Moors and conquered so much of the America's and looted the gold and silver. Most of this loot went directly to the Aristocracy (their 1%) who started purchasing spices and luxuries from abroad. This lack of domestic demand weakened what was left of the middle class after the Inquisiton drove most of the Muslims and Jews out of the country. Most of the New World gold ended up in India after the Arab middlemen got their cut and Spain ended up with 99% of its people being poor serfs tied to the land. Spanish farmers were still threshing wheat with flails and blankets in the 1950's. The Spanish now recognize that their real golden age was when the Christians, Muslims, and Jews lived together in relative harmony and there was a flourishing middle class before El Cid drove out the Moors and the Inquisition began.. They are now working to try to restore the cultural harmony and diversity that lead to their golden age. If our disparity between the wealthy and poor keeps growing and we cut off the flow of immigration, we might well become the next great civilization to wither away from within.

[Lindytindy]

08:55 AM on 12/06/2011

Yes that is because globalization is yet another scam invented by economists and banks and the governments the banks control, convincing people that it would 'lift all boats'. When in fact it should have been obvious from the get go that all it would do is create more extremely wealthy people at the top and force the rest into poverty and the world into an armageddon like depression. It is the last ditch attempt of the 1% to rob all the wealth available before industrial civilization is crushed by it's own excesses. Common sense should tell any adult living in this world that the trickle down theory is right up there with the tooth fairy and santa.

[Eggsackley]

11:09 AM on 12/06/2011

Globalization is not all bad. It is lifting a lot of boats world-wide and is leading to a declining birth rate as more people world wide are coming out of abject poverty. The real problem is that the world's resources are limited and can not sustain the current frenzy of consumption that is making the rich so rich and which is being driven by the mass media they control. This frenzy of consumerism reached its peak in this country when so many of our middle class got large second mortgages on their homes to buy more toys like boats and off road vehicles. Banks and real estate agents encouraged this trend by deliberately over-estimating real estate values and lowering loan standards. Add in excessive speculation in real estate derivatives and our economy crashed. This could be a good thing, if we learn from it before it is too late, but only if the OWS movement returns our democracy to a government of the people, by the people,and for the people. AND, THE PEOPLE THEN HAVE THE GOOD SENSE TO STOP RAMPANT OVERCONSUMPTION AND CREATE A SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY.