![The Lookout](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/PX9N9kjDk3fjlpXsYlBz_w--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTE0NDtoPTYw/https://media.zenfs.com/152/2011/04/13/lookout-placed-135x56_020130.jpg)
Separate but unequal: Charts show growing rich-poor gap
The Great Recession and the slump that followed have triggered a jobs crisis that's been making headlines since before President Obama was in office, and that will likely be with us for years. But the American economy is also plagued by a less-noted, but just as serious, problem: Simply put, over the last 30 years, the gap between rich and poor has widened into a chasm.
Gradual developments like this don't typically lend themselves to news coverage. But Mother Jones magazine has crunched the data on inequality, and put together a group of stunning new charts. Taken together, they offer a dramatic visual illustration of who's doing well and who's doing badly in modern America.
Here are three samples:
• This chart shows that the poorest 90 percent of Americans make an average of $31,244 a year, while the top 1 percent make over $1.1 million:
![](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/XK_K4NUB9X6O7gy5a6W8vg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTYzMg--/https://s.yimg.com/a/i/ww/news/2011/02/23/howrich2.jpg)
• According to this chart, most income groups have barely grown richer since 1979. But the top 1 percent has seen its income nearly quadruple:
![](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/8auE.tHWfIudmAb11sewGg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY1OA--/https://s.yimg.com/a/i/ww/news/2011/02/23/winners2.jpg)
• And this chart suggests most Americans have little idea of just how unequal income distribution is. And that they'd like things to be divvied up a lot more equitably:
![Chart showing US attitudes on wealth inequality](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/RAyeQ6mNc57VNMCf9l.mxQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTQwMw--/https://s.yimg.com/a/i/ww/news/2011/02/23/balance2.jpg)
To see the rest of these fascinating charts, click on over to Mother Jones.