income inequality

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>

Anti-Poverty Group: We're Entering a 'Decade of Division'

Oxfam says we could see the world's first trillionaire within 10 years

(Newser) - The world could have its first trillionaire within a decade, anti-poverty organization Oxfam International said Monday in its annual assessment of global inequalities timed to the gathering of political and business elites at the Swiss ski resort of Davos. Oxfam, which for years has been trying to highlight the growing...

FIFA Chief on Equal Pay: 'Pick the Right Battles'

Gianni Infantino catches flak for telling women players to 'convince us men'

(Newser) - Equal pay has long been a bone of contention for women's soccer, and FIFA's president appears to be on the side of achieving "equality" overall, but his recent wording on the subject is rankling some fans. Speaking at the FIFA Women's Football Convention ahead of Sunday'...

Older, White Homebuyers Squeeze Others Out of Market

Share of first-time owners falls to 41-year low

(Newser) - It's not just higher mortgage rates and lower inventory squeezing young people out of the real estate market: It's older white people who can bring cash to the deal. In its yearly profile of buyers and sellers, the National Association of Realtors says those purchasing their first home...

LA County Launches Guaranteed Income Pilot

Applicants for the $1,000-a-month payments need to have been hurt by pandemic

(Newser) - Los Angeles County is now accepting applications for its $1,000-a-month guaranteed income program. Under the pilot, called Breathe, 1,000 residents will be picked randomly from eligible applicants, KTLA reports. The money will be delivered through a county debit card monthly for three years, with no strings attached, "...

Equal-Pay Win for US Women's Soccer Comes With a Catch

Cheryl Cooky argues athletic superiority shouldn't be a prerequisite

(Newser) - The US Women's National Team's big win last week didn't happen in a stadium. After a six-year fight, the soccer team reached a settlement with the sport's American governing body. Writing for NBC News , Cheryl Cooky writes their case "is believed to be the first...

Guillotine Is Set Up Outside Home of Jeff Bezos

Demonstrators speak up after the Amazon CEO's wealth reportedly tops $200 billion

(Newser) - Over a hundred demonstrators gathered Thursday outside Jeff Bezos' mansion in Washington, DC, and assembled a guillotine at his front door, Business Insider reports. Led by a group called the Congress of Essential Workers, the protest was designed to oppose current employee wages at the company. It also came a...

Warren's Social Security Plan Calls for a Raise

She wants people to get $200 more a month, and she wants the rich to pay for it

(Newser) - Elizabeth Warren is out with her latest policy proposal, and she's calling for those on Social Security to receive an extra $200 a month. In a post at Medium detailing the proposal, Warren says the increased benefits would be paid for by raising taxes on the wealthy. The plan...

Uber Co-Founder Buys Most Expensive Mansion in Beverly Hills

Garrett Camp's posh purchase is immediately assailed as prime example of income inequality

(Newser) - Uber is still losing money , but co-founder Garrett Camp isn't short on cash: The billionaire and partner Eliza Nguyen bought a new Beverly Hills mansion for a record-breaking $72.5 million last week as the firm's share price closed above its $45 IPO level, Variety reports. The recently...

Backlash Begins Over Notre Dame Donations

Critics cite white privilege, and a billionaire donor responds

(Newser) - The $1 billion raised to rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral is now receiving a dose of controversy. The Washington Post is among several outlets reporting that criticism is mounting in regard to income inequality about the large donations that came from billionaires like Francois-Henri Pinault and Bernard Arnault. While most want...

Getting Rid of Billionaires Isn't 'Un-American'— It's Necessary

That's Farhad Manjoo's take for the 'New York Times'

(Newser) - Farhad Manjoo would like to end our "devastating national love affair with billionaires"—and he thinks the way to do that is to force-phase them out. Writing for the New York Times , Manjoo says he got to seriously thinking about the concept of abolishing the super-rich after reading...

Warren to Unveil 'Ultra-Millionaire' Tax

Mass. senator wants 2% tax on net worth above $50M, 3% above $1B

(Newser) - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez isn't alone in wanting more taxes on the wealthy. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is expected to propose an "ultra-millionaire" tax, the brain child of University of California-Berkeley economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, reports Politico . It would impose a 2% tax on each dollar of net...

Bernie Sanders Goes After the 'Wealthiest Family in America'

Senator rolls out the Stop WALMART Act

(Newser) - The bigger they come, the harder Bernie Sanders will go after them, apparently. The senator from Vermont, whose recent campaign to improve conditions for Amazon workers led to the company raising its minimum wage to $15 , now has Walmart in his sights, CNN reports. The independent senator, who calls the...

World's 5 Most Unequal Countries on Same Continent

Effects of South Africa's apartheid still felt

(Newser) - Inequality was embedded in South African culture through its apartheid system. Nearly a quarter century after its end, the country still has a long way to go. "Inequality is high, persistent, and has increased since 1994" in South Africa, which is the most unequal country in the world when...

Oxfam: 42 People Now Have as Much as World's Poorest 3.7B

82% of wealth generated in 2017 went to 1%

(Newser) - Last year was another bumper year for the very richest people in the world and another step backward for billions of others, according to Oxfam's annual report on inequality ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos. The report estimates that the lowest-income 50% of the world, or around...

Half of 30-Year-Olds Don't Make What Their Parents Did

New study casts 'American dream' in troubled light

(Newser) - The American dream isn't dead, but it's got one foot in the grave, according to new research . The Washington Post reports that 92% of people born in 1940 earned more money at 30 years old than their parents did when they were the same age. Researchers say doing...

Mysterious Panama Papers Source Finally Speaks Out

'Banks, financial regulators, and tax authorities have failed'

(Newser) - The mysterious source behind the Panama Papers broke their silence for the first time Friday, speaking out about their motivations and their willingness to assist law enforcement, the Guardian reports. In a statement titled "The Revolution Will Be Digitized," the source known only as John Doe (though their...

Marriage Equality: Adding to the Class Divide?

It hinges on a notion called 'assortative mating'

(Newser) - Marriage equality is on the rise at the same time class segregation is growing—but are the two connected? Yep, rising equality in the American marriage (where women make more money than before) appears oddly linked to greater inequality throughout the economy, the New York Times reports. "It’s...

Women's Salaries Peak a Decade Earlier Than Men's

Even when men and women work the same jobs, women earn less

(Newser) - Women's earnings continue to rise slightly every five years between the ages of 20 and 40, at which point the median salary peaks at $49,000. From there until retirement 25 years later women's earnings remain flat, while men's salaries continue to grow until into their 50s,...

How a CEO's Move to Pay All at Least $70K Backfired

Dan Price's egalitarian salary plan created a tempest

(Newser) - It seemed like a great idea at the time: Pay every employee in your company at least $70,000. But as the New York Times reports, when Dan Price announced his grandiose plan, a whole host of problems quickly descended on his Gravity Payments credit card processing company. Two longtime...

Why Michelle Obama Should Earn a Salary

The White House could take a stronger stand on equal pay: Gregory Krieg

(Newser) - President Obama is paid $400,000 a year to jet around the globe, shake hands, sign legislation, and sprout several new gray hairs . His wife, who will fly to Maryland today for a clinic for war veterans before hosting a poetry event at the White House, doesn't collect a...

Stories 1 - 20 |  Next >>