please identify from the following statements the two valid interpretations. A) The upper-middle class has done better than the middle class or the poor, but the smallest gaps are between the super-rich and everyone else. B) One would expect that the average Americans would look at this chart and conclude that income inequality is now an extreme problem. C) The indication of soaring income inequality in the USA today suggests that basic problem is that most families used to receive something approaching their fair share of economic growth. Now, many no longer do. D) In recent years, only very affluent families — those in roughly the top 25 percent of the income distribution — have received large raises.
A key theme of criticism of globalization is that it seems to unfairly reward the rich and punish the poor. One way to think about this is to look at the issue of income inequality.
Technically, income inequality is the unequal distribution of household or individual income across the various participants in an economy.
Income inequality is often presented as the percentage of income to a percentage of population. For example, a statistic may indicate that 70% of a country's income is controlled by 20% of that country's residents.
Work on income inequality in the USA shows the change in income between 1980 and 2014 for every point on the distribution of people in terms of income percentile that is, we can track the changing distribution of income, from the poorest person to the richest person over that time span.
As seen in the chart below, it’s mostly flat and close to zero, before spiking upward at the end—as such, some say it resembles a classic hockey-stick graph.
Based on this chart, please identify from the following statements the two valid interpretations.
![INCOME GROWTH
Over previous 34 years
But now, the very affluent
(the 99.999th percentile)
see the largest income growth.
+6%
5%
The poor and middle
class used to see the
4%
99.99th percentile
largest income growth.
3%
In 1980
99th percentile
2%
In 2014
1%
5th percentile
99th percentile
10th
20th
30th
40th
50th
60th
70th
80th
90th
100th
Lower income
INCOME PERCENTILE
Higher Income
Note: Infiation-adjusted annual average growth using income after taxes, transfers and non-cash benefits.](/v2/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcontent.bartleby.com%2Fqna-images%2Fquestion%2F9675eaec-5254-4d5d-b772-6db16daa469a%2F3b9a651a-4140-4219-8181-75f834989afc%2Fl3pa6_processed.jpeg&w=3840&q=75)
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