Wealth Inequality

'Diamond Dog'

      During the "Gilded Age," every man was a potential Andrew Carnegie, and Americans who achieved wealth celebrated it as never before.  In New York, the opera, the theatre, and lavish parties consumed the ruling class' leisure hours.  Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish once threw a dinner party to honor her dog who arrived sporting a $15,000 diamond collar.  How much would that be in today's $$$$?

     While the rich wore diamonds, many wore rags. In 1890, 11 million of the nation's 12 million families earned less than $1200 per year; of this group, the average annual income was $380, well below the poverty line. Rural Americans and new immigrants crowded into urban areas. Tenements spread across city landscapes, teeming with crime and filth. Americans had sewing machines, phonographs, skyscrapers, and even electric lights, yet most people labored in the shadow of poverty.  Read more....

Is the Distribution of Wealth more equal today than in the Gilded Age?

What do the 'bean counters' say?

Make a prediction and then check out the reality.