Why we should care about inequality (PART I)

This is the first of two blog posts on economic inequality in the United States.

Is this the America you know? (source)

I’m from a relatively privileged background. My parents are well-educated (they met and married during college), and I grew up in a house where one or both of them had a steady job. I went to public school in San Diego County in a mostly white suburb in a little town called Poway (the town is affectionately referred to as “the city in the country,” and we have horse trails and strip malls).  Throughout my life I have had friends that are mostly well-educated like myself, that come from similar backgrounds like me, and have similar families. Coming from this type of background, it's easy for me—and I imagine, for people like me—to believe that with few exceptions (e.g., bad apples or unlucky breaks), most people have the same family background as I do, face similar daily challenges, and are similarly happy with their lives.

The truth about life in America is that it is much more unequal than we realize. In what follows, I detail the evidence:

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