Protesters in Egypt are saying inequality is creating the unrest. We saw something similar in Tunisia the other week when the government was thrown out. It's the same story in Yemen where tens of thousands of Yemenis are demanding the president step down in nationwide protests, taking inspiration from the popular revolt in Tunisia. So inequality is driving this political instability.
What then do we say to evidence that inequality is worse in America than it is in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen? Check out the "Gini Coefficient", the figure economists use to measure inequality. Working the Gini coefficient is a bit like golf – the lower the score, the better you are. The score is higher in the US than in those three places.
According to the CIA World Factbook, the Gini co efficient of the United States is 45, compared with 40 in Tunisia and 34.4 in Egypt.
In America, the government bailed out the banks and investors. Call it socialism for the rich. And it's got worse since the crisis. As The Economist notes: "Those used to defending American inequality on the grounds that it provides the incentive to strive that defines a dynamic economy now question how healthy the divisions really are. American mobility seems to be waning, not growing, and the crisis seems to have reinforced the gap between haves and have-nots."
So why are Americans so complacent about it? And will we start seeing a backlash?
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