Global income inequality is falling fast

Globalization and increasing capitalism has been very good for most of humanity is the message of this outstanding post by Lackner and Milanovic.  Here's the Quasi-non-anonymous growth incidence curve to prove it:

 

I just love Quasi-non-anonymous growth don't you?  But not everyone is gaining at the same rate:

Doing best are the global middle whose incomes have increased at a rate that is more than twice that of the world at large.  Most of these people live in Asia, principally in China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Next best performing are those at the bottom of the global income distribution whose incomes have grown about 75% faster than the world at large.  A large portion of these people live in Africa, the Sub Continent or China.

Third best off are the global rich whose incomes have outpaced global income growth by half. These people are everywhere.  They've taken most of the initiative and done most of the actual risk taking that has led to the rapid increase in global living standards around the world.  And for that they are reviled and spat upon.  But they can afford dry cleaning bills so don't cry too hard for them.

Worst off, but still better off than before are the global upper middle income earners.  Primarily the middle and working classes of the 'rich' countries, they've seen their relative incomes dwindle in comparison to global averages.  They can't afford that luxurious a holiday to Thailand anymore - not because they are poorer in absolute terms but because the Thais are much richer so they won't work (or whore) for peanuts anymore.

Some deeply dysfunctional countries have done worse than the global growth rate but it is difficult to find countries - even those considered to be basket cases that haven't experienced real economic growth.  The rapidly falling cost of all sorts of items, including telephony, television, clothing and household goods has meant that even low productivity countries going nowhere fast have seen their standards of living rise.  For example (all numbers calculated at Purchasing Power Parity):

Haiti: $1058 up 20% in 12 years
Somalia:  $547 up 20% in last six years
Bangladesh: $1693 up 49% in last eight years
El Salvador: $6093 up 11% in last eight years

If you take a few minutes to look up from the unrelenting 'eat your peas' gloom of our oh so progressive political class and their Piketting enablers, the global situation looks less like a dystopia with plutocratic fembots devouring villagers whole than a messy rebalancing of the world economy back towards where it was before the Anglo Saxons invented everything.

Of course we in the US have had the added 'benefit' of economic leadership that for most of us has delivered worse results than the global bottom dwellers.  We've seen most of our population lose 15 to 20% of their purchasing power under the aegis of Hope 'n Change. Here's the damage to median household income by education level:




And shockingly, the downward trend appears to be accelerating. Hell even people ruled by the modern day equivalent of the Tonton Macoutte or a Central American drug lord are doing better than that.

Which might explain our confusion as to why the chap presented as our savior six short years ago should be opening the borders to millions more of the global poor as we speak.  I wonder what all those working poor and unemployed who thought Obama was going to give them a phone or pay their mortgage or usher in a new era of abundance think of his oh so 'progressive' leadership now? I mean if they can cut through the constant chanting of the Obama We Believe U cheering section that our national media have become.

The man in the silk suit hurries by. 

As he catches the poor old lady's eyes. 

Just for fun he says, 'Get the rich' 

That's just the way it is. 

Some things'll never change.

http://www.voxeu.org/article/global-income-distribution-1988