According to a domestic household consumption survey issued by U.S. Census Bureau on August 29th, the Gini index has set a record and reached 0.469 in the U.S., the highest since 1967 when current statistical methods were adopted to conduct surveys in the U.S.

The Gini index is a worldwide indictor used to measure the extent to which the distribution of income (or consumption) among individuals or households within a country deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. It fluctuates between 0 and 1. The bigger it is the greater income disparity will be whereas the smaller it is, the less income inequality will be. The U.S.'s Gini index was rising consecutively for three years from 2002 to 2005. This figure in 2005 is now the largest for the last 40 years.

The report shows that U.S. household income gap has been constantly widening. The median income of the richest American households, accounting for 20% of all households, has increased by 2.2, or US$ 3,592 to US$ 166 thousand, making up 50.4% of the total U.S. household income. However the median income of the poorest U.S. households or 20% of all households has risen by as little as 0.2%, or US$ 17 to US$ 11,288, accounting for 3.4% of the total household income, the lowest percentage since the mid-1960s.

By U.S. standards, a person who earns an annual income of less than US$ 10 thousand or a four-member family who live on a yearly income of below US$ 20 thousand is considered poor. Accordingly, the U.S. has a total of 37 million citizens living in poverty, accounting for 12.6% of its entire population.

Although the U.S. has the most powerful economy in the world, a large number of American people can by no means get basic Medicare. 15.7% of U.S. population, viz. 46.6 million Americans receives no Medicare at all, according to the results of a census. Moreover, the population which has no Medicare has been continuously increasing in the last 5 years in the U.S.

The report shows that the average U.S. household income is US$ 46 thousand in 2005, with an increase of 1.1% from the last year. This is the first increase in U.S. average household income since 1999. However, the U.S. economy has not recovered from the 2001 recession when discounting for inflationary factors. The report also finds that Asian-American families have the highest median income of all U.S. ethnic groups in 2005, which is US$ 61,094 whereas on the other hand, poor Asian-American population has increased.

The report reflects the whole picture of large poor-rich gap in the U.S. Although the U.S. economy is still growing slowly, the economy, as the Democratic Party and its supporters point out, does not benefit the American general public but favors wealthy American classes. More likely, the issues of poverty and widening poor-rich gap will become very important topics to discuss during the mid-term election of U.S. Congress due in November this year.

Some U.S. scholars blame their government because they think the Bush Administration has achieved nothing in regards to narrowing the income gap in the U.S. but on the contrary, its policies will further widen the poor-rich gap.

By People's Daily Online