On Thu, 22 Sep 2005, Wendy Lyon wrote:
>> London, which used to be my favorite city in Europe has become a hellhole
>> with the widest gulf between rich and poor that I saw in Europe.
>
> Actually we have that here in Dublin. Fact.
But is it worse that here in beloved New York, where the bottom quintile makes roughly 2% of what the top quintile makes? If memory serves, the median income of the bottom quintile is $7,000 per annum; the median of top quintile is $365,000. As an income distribution it's roughly the same as Namibia.
But here's the part that surprised me: we're fourth in the country. Ahead of us is Atlanta, Washington DC -- and Berkeley.
Income disparity doesn't seem to map onto hellholeness, at least in the US. There are worse cities to live in -- for both rich, poor and middle -- that clearly have more income equality -- like most other cities in the country. And I daresay the same is true of Ireland and England.
This doesn't seem like it ought to be right. I feel like I'm missing a variable here.
Michael