skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Wealth & Income Gap Growing Quickly

play audio
Play

Friday, November 16, 2012   

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A new study based on census figures shows the gap between the rich and poor continues to grow quickly. Analysts say it's becoming a serious issue for the economy as a whole.

Stuart Frazier, an analyst with the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, says the figures show the gap has grown even faster than average here. He says by one measure the distance between the state's rich and poor households has doubled in 30 years.

"Families in the top 5 percent, their income is about 10 times as large as the poorest 20 percent of West Virginians."

Economists stress that rising inequality is not inevitable, that the gap between rich and poor actually fell between World War Two and 1970. And they say it also fell for a brief period during the economic growth of the late 90s. They say part of that was due to Clinton era tax policies and a rise in the minimum wage.

According to Elizabeth McNichol, a senior fellow with the state fiscal project of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, the gap has grown nationally for three decades, but has become worse in the last 10 years.

"When the economy has grown, the lion's share of that has gone to households at the top. What we've seen in the last decade is that the incomes of the households at the bottom are actually declining."

McNichol says inequality is bad because it makes the economy less flexible. And she says people who work hard and play by the rules should be rewarded.

"There's a question of fairness. The economic growth comes from the contributions of people in all walks of life. When your place on the income scale determines whether you get rewards for that work, then that's a problem."

She says education, job training and tax policies at the state level can make a big difference.

"Assistance in childcare, job training, transportation, health insurance can help families get jobs and move up the income scale."






get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021