wealth

Did you know…

Article: There will never be a post-racial America if the wealth gap persists.

Last week, I attended a United for a Fair Economy “Training of the Trainers” workshop in Baltimore. In one of my favorite activities, we participants brainstormed a list of the values, images, and ideas that we envision for a just economy. We were then asked to come up with new “frames” that capture the collective vision.

We know there is a wealth gap, but how did it come to be? Is it natural? Inevitable?

The Mind the Gap! campaign is born out of our belief that wealth inequality reduces everyone’s quality of life, divides our communities, and threatens our democracy—In other words, this issue affects everyone negatively!

Joseph Stiglitz- "The top 1 percent have the best houses, the best educations, the best doctors, and the best lifestyles, but there is one thing that money doesn't seem to have bought: an understanding that their fate is bound up with how the other 99 percent live."

From 1979 to 2007, the average, after-tax, inflation-adjusted income of middle-class households increased 25%; for the top 1%, it rose 281%.ⁱ

"We’ve talked about what wealth is literally, but wealth is much more than just the amount of money you have left over after you’ve paid your bills. It’s relative. It’s social. It’s abstract. It’s political. Point is, wealth is much much bigger than just what you own minus what you owe. Wealth is power."

Learn about the growing wealth divide in the United States through a creative exercise linking sound with inequality.