Poverty In N.C.

In the News and Observer, Rob Christensen writes an article about the income disparity in North Carolina. He cites a study released by the N.C. Budget and Tax Center that shows a growing disparity between the rich and poor in North Carolina.

In the early 2000s, the top 5 percent of North Carolina families had an average income of $183,253. The poorest 20 percent had an average annual income of $14,884.
Those figures are from a new study that shows the gap between North Carolina's rich and the poor is widening.

Christensen quotes fellow blogger John Quinterno,

"When the benefits of growth are concentrated among a few families, others have a much harder time providing for their basic needs, moving out of poverty, building wealth and providing opportunities for their children,"

Income disparity is one of the most important issues for Southern progressives. The South consistently has the highest poverty rate in the country. Christensen does not simply pass the buck to conservative fiscal policies.

Although Democrats often blame Republican tax cuts for the growing inequality -- and assuredly the cuts have played some small role -- most economists think that the trend is being driven by rising wages for skilled workers and lower wages for unskilled workers.
After all, the gap between the rich and the poor is growing all over the world -- and you can't blame that on George W. Bush.

Far more worrisome than inequality is the steady proportion of North Carolinians living in poverty: a family of two making less than $13,078 per year. The rate has remained stuck at 12.9 percent for the past 16 years.

Quinterno has a point when he says, "There are two North Carolinas -- one for the state's richest families and another for the rest."

But that may be a problem of poverty, not one of inequality.