An article by Doug Henwood here details just how unequal income is in the city whose mayor Michael Bloomberg a billionaire no doubt represents the top 5 per cent in the city! The analysis that Henwood uses is from the New York City Independent budget office.
The material was released after a request from James Oddo a New York City councilor. Here are a few details.
The poorest tenth in the city have an average income of only 988 dollars representing just .1 per cent of the total income of the city. This does not include the amount of any social benefits. Still it is astonishingly low. Even the bottom 50 per cent of income earners have only 9 per cent of the total income. This compares to 19 per cent for the bottom half of earners throughout the U.S.
The richest 5 per cent receive 49 per cent almost half of all the income in the city. This compares with the national average at 32 per cent. The iconic 1 per cent of top earners in New York City have over a third of the total income at 34 per cent. This is much higher than the overall U.S. in which the top one per cent have 19 per cent of income. As Henwood remarks the inequality in New York City is greater than that of Brazil noted for the huge gap between rich and poor. Apparently electing a billionaire as mayor does not mean that much wealth trickles down, rather it means a lot trickles up.
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