One way of looking at measuring inequality is to look at the earnings of people at the top vs. the typical worker in the middle. According to InequalityForAll.com, In 1978 the top people in the United States made $393,682 and the typical worker in the middle made $48,302.” In 2010 the typical worker in the middle class made $33,751, while the typical 1% made 1,101,089 on average. Today, the top 400 richest people have more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans put together.
What is the middle class today? According to InequalityForAll.com, “There is no official definition of the middle class. But you can say that the MEDIAN salary in the U.S. is around $50,000. Fifty percent above and fifty …show more content…
Productions increased greatly but the average hourly earnings of production workers have flattened out. Financial markets were becoming more powerful, new technological ways of doing things, and the massive increase in American manufacturing. As labor unions declined so did the national average income of the middle class. Corporations took advantage of this and became more powerful. Contrary to popular mythology, globalization and technology haven’t reduced the number of jobs available to Americans. All that these transformations did was reduce their pay. These changes have had a negative impact to upward mobility. InequalityForAll.com says, “Many Americans would be inclined to tolerate income inequality if it meant that with hard work the American Dream could still be