Economic Inequality

A friend, who is an ardent capitalist, and I got into a discussion about the role of government, education and economic disparity. This discussion prompted me to do some research in this area and the results were startling. First I looked at the Gini coefficient, arguably a good measure of inequality. Higher coefficient means more inequality. India, Canada and even Bangladesh have more equality than the US! Take look at the map and you can draw your own conclusions.

United States, the world’s richest country, has 271 Billionaires and 35 million people below poverty line (defined as annual family income less than $13,000). Top 1% of the population (owns 40% of the total wealth) has more wealth than bottom 95% combined. I am big believer in capitalism and laissez-faire economy, but it gets tough to argue that we are better off following this socio-economic paradigm. And please take note of the graph peak - 1929.

I am not smart enough to argue difficult public policy decisions, but how can US, the richest nation in the world, keep justifying not providing universal health care to its citizens. We are talking about 35 million people below poverty line and close to 20% of the population without health insurance. What good is freedom without welfare and social justice.