On Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:17:55 -0700, "John R. Carroll"
wrote:

snip
It's also worth having a
look at income distribution in 1950 compared to today.
snip
The metric for this is called the GINI index, and when you
compare the US GINI over time and against other countries it will
make your hair stand on end.
to see a graph click on
http://mcduffee-associates.us/PE/gini1.pdf

FWIW the lowest GINI was for the period 1947-1996 was 1965-1971
at about 0.35 at the height of LBJs "War on Poverty" [and the
concurrent war in Vietnam] The US 2007 GINI was estimated at
0.45 by the CIA economics analysis section, while my trend line
forecast was about a 0.49.

The US currently has the highest GINI index of any of the OECD
{developed/industralized} countries, and it continues to climb at
a increasing rate. [0.00 = perfect income equality, everyone get
the same income, 1.00=perfect inequality, 1 person gets
everything, everyone else gets nothing.] In many cases, the US
GINI is now *ABOVE* some so called LDCs [less developed
countries]/third-world economies.

While I do not suggest causality, there is a high degree of
correlation [R sq. .5] between the GINI index and many "quality
of life" metrics such as the crime/murder rate, longevity,
suicide rate, infant mortality, etc. This is true world-wide,
although some if this data is doubtful, to the United States
where state GINIs used to be available. From limited data, this
also appears to be the case for the even smaller MSA
[metropolitian statistical areas] where both the GINI and QoL
data is available.

Remember that the GINI index does not indicate the level of
income [or other items such as health care (different GINI)], but
the evenness of distribution, so a poor area can have a low GINI
index if everybody is poor, and so can a rich area if everyone is
rich.

FWIW -- the US area with the highest known GINI is Washington DC,
and their QoL problems are well known.

If interested click on
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gini_coefficient
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ncome_equality
google on gini indes for 168k hits.


Unka' George [George McDuffee]
-------------------------------------------
He that will not apply new remedies,
must expect new evils:
for Time is the greatest innovator: and
if Time, of course, alter things to the worse,
and wisdom and counsel shall not alter them to the better,
what shall be the end?

Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English philosopher, essayist, statesman.
Essays, "Of Innovations" (1597-1625).