Economic inequality

China has become the largest trading partner for much of the world. Though, and perhaps because, China is in a position of economic power, income inequality and migration have become large problems for the country’s new leadership to address.

By using the GINI coefficient as a measure of inequality, the GlobalPost has mapped and compared cities across the world that are struggling with income inequality. In two cities across the world from one another, the findings were remarkably similar.

Now more than ever there’s a need to set partisan differences aside to address the number of Americans living in poverty, activists say. But with no representation for the growing number of people falling into poverty, some are calling fiscal cliff negotiations a threat to our democracy.

Economists are also studying whether the dramatic concentration of wealth at the top is an indication of an economic collapse, a cause of an economic collapse or just a mere coincidence, as they study the concentration of wealth now, compared to 1928.

President Obama is scheduled to give a speech tomorrow in Illinois addressing the US economy. Home prices, stock prices, and retail sales are all on the rebound. But the gap between rich and poor continues to widen.