Wealth Inequality in America
Infographics on the distribution of wealth in America, highlighting both the inequality and the difference between our perception of inequality and the actual numbers. The reality is often not what we think it is.

Owen Jones: We're Now Governed by the Political Wing of the Wealthy
THE INDEPENDENT – AN EXTRACT: We're governed by the political wing of the wealthy. That's not the view of a Socialist Worker headline writer: it's mainstream public opinion. According to a poll for The Independent earlier this week, two out of three voters think the Tories are "the party of the rich". Inevitably, that's partly because the majority of the Cabinet are privately-educated millionaires who would not look out of place in a 19th-century government. That's why George Osborne (the St Paul's-educated heir to a 17th-century baronetcy) slapping a tax on pasties – popular cheap nosh – strikes such a nerve. "It may sound trivial – but it is becoming symbolic of a divide between working people and a rich elite" – again, not the Socialist Worker, but the otherwise loyal Tory rag, The Sun.

But it goes a lot deeper than the distance between the well-bred kitchen-supper eating Conservatives and the pasty-eating masses. It's the fact that the "Cash for Cameron" scandal has exposed the internal mechanics of how Toryism provides political representation for the upper crust of society, because "the people who remain quietly behind the scenes" have been thrust into the spotlight. Peter Cruddas is now persona non grata as far as Cameron's circle is concerned, but his pledge to "feed all feedback" of wealthy donors "to the policy committee" gives the rest of us an insight into how power works in Cameron's Britain. Read the whole article here » | Owen Jones | Friday, March 30, 2012

Welcome to Britain in 2010 Where Money + Class = Power
THE OBSERVER: The establishment is back at the heart of government. It's as if the last 100 years had never happened

As exhausted Labour ministers embraced opposition with an emotion close to relief, the party's equally exhausted staff assumed they could relax. Instead of being allowed to recuperate, however, they were overwhelmed by thousands of angry men and women clamouring to join. The sight of Nick Clegg and David Cameron joshing in the grounds of Downing Street had rammed home a truth about Britain that all the talk of "inclusion" and "diversity" obscures. We live in the most class-ridden society in western Europe, and it is becoming more sclerotic and more hierarchical by the year.

Despite the admirable attempts to combat sexism, racism and homophobia, the life-defining issue for children is not their skin colour, gender or sexuality, still less their intrinsic talent, but how much their parents are prepared to spend on their education, and what friendships they can exploit and contacts they can manipulate on their little darlings' behalf thereafter.

Look at our new government. Satirists caricature Liberals – and I think we can now stop calling them "Liberal Democrats" as their alliance with the right has sundered their links with the social democratic tradition – as muesli-munching, Observer-reading, real-ale-drinking members of the progressive middle class. The events of last week have smashed that caricature into 1,000 pieces. Instead of going with Labour, the leaders of middle-class liberalism went into David Cameron's coalition. Far from adding grit to an administration dominated by the children of the rich, they toffed it up and raised the average cabinet member's net worth by tens of thousands of pounds.

As so often, foreign journalists see Britain more clearly than we do. During the campaign, a puzzled Susanne Gelhard, London correspondent for German radio station ZDF, noticed that the British media talked incessantly about Cameron's privileged background, but never added that Clegg's was no different. "How does he do it?" she asked. "I think he must have very good PR management."

So he does. When you look at his history, you discover that his parents, who now live in some style in a chateau in the south of France, sent him to Westminster, a private school that has never seen itself as second best to Eton. On leaving Cambridge, he behaved in a manner any young Tory on the make would recognise by accepting the patronage of Lord Carrington and Lord Brittan. He married well. His Spanish wife Miriam is not only a successful lawyer bringing in a six-figure salary, but is also a Catholic. Her belief in the supernatural has the advantage of allowing the atheist Clegg to avoid the worst of the state education system and send his children to a faith school. >>> Nick Cohen | Sunday, May 16, 2010

Britain Slips Out of Top 20 Best Countries to Live In
THE TELEGRAPH: Britain has slipped out of the top 20 most desirable countries in which to live, according to UN data, beaten by France, Australia and the United States.

Norway tops the study, which ranks countries on their education, wealth and life expectancy, using figures compiled by the United Nations Development Programme.

Britain, which was ranked 16th two years ago when the UN last conducted the research, has slipped five places to be ranked 21, only a few places ahead of Slovenia, Greece and Andorra in the Human Development Report 2009.

In 1990, Britain was the tenth best country to live in.

However, in the intervening years, Britain's wealth – as defined by gross domestic product per head – has slipped, while its educational ranking has failed to keep up with that of other countries. >>> Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Editor | Monday, October 05, 2009

Indian MPs Grow Richer — But the Poor Still Survive on £1.30 a Day
Lal Krishna Advani. Photo courtesy of TimesOnline
TIMESONLINE: Indian MPs running in this year’s election have become almost 300 per cent richer on average since the last poll in 2004, and one is more than 90 times wealthier, according to the first detailed study of their financial assets.

The report by National Election Watch, a coalition of non-government organisations, proves for the first time what many had long suspected — that MPs have enriched themselves in office while life has remained a struggle for the 880 million Indians surviving on less than $2 (£1.30) a day.

Under a Supreme Court ruling in 2003, all election candidates must disclose their assets, educational qualifications and any criminal background.

The report takes the assets declared by 300 MPs running in this year’s month-long election, which ends tomorrow, and compares them with their declarations in 2004. It shows that 14 MPs disclosed a tenfold increase in their wealth over the past five years. Thirty, including a Cabinet minister, declared a fivefold increase and 175 reported a rise of more than 100 per cent.

“Politics has become a huge money-making business,” said Trilochan Sastry, the Dean of the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, who led the study. Most members of the 543-seat Parliament — 128 of whom face criminal charges — had under- reported their wealth, he added. >>> Jeremy Page, South Asia Correspondent | Tuesday, May 12, 2009