Featured Article on 100 charts on U.S. inequality

The following message is a sneak peak of a column written by Civic Action team member Paul Constant. To read the full version, follow this link.

When many authors set out to write about political economy, they first finish writing the book and then find charts that illustrate their points. But NYU business-school professor and popular podcaster Scott Galloway decided to work backward when drafting his latest book, "Adrift: America in 100 Charts": He selected 100 striking charts that highlight America's growing inequality from 1945 to the present day, then wrote about the findings.

We interviewed Galloway on our podcast Pitchfork Economics, where he discussed several important new insights into the decaying of the American middle class – and a surprising sign of optimism for the future.

Until the early 1970s, Galloway said, productivity and wages "were like two snakes intertwined." Now, "the delta between flat wage growth and increased productivity in America is literally trillions of dollars in surplus values" – money that's gone to the richest shareholders, he added.

A wide array of economic policies were consciously reversed in order to redirect the flow of funds away from everyday Americans and toward the wealthy. "When you decide that the two largest tax breaks are mortgage interest and capital gains, who owns homes or owns assets, and who makes their money from stocks? Older, wealthy people," Galloway said. As a result, he added, people over the age of 70 have become on average 72% wealthier while people under the age of 40 have become on average 22% less wealthy in the last 40 years.

Galloway believes America has been its own worst enemy, with outsized political division keeping us from solving the problem of inequality. "If you look at some of the darkest moments in history over the last hundred years, it usually begins with economic problems," Galloway said.

While Galloway’s work illuminates massive problems, his research also gave him hope for the future. In his interview with the Civic Action team, Galloway explains that the U.S. has made incredible achievements, including increased economic activity, eliminating diseases, and cutting poverty. We have the brainpower and resources to solve big problems – and if we can convince our leaders to invest in the middle class, we can reduce inequality.

To learn more about Galloway’s research, and why he has a sense of optimism for the future, follow this link to read Paul Constant’s Business Insider article.

– Team Civic Action

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