BusinessBusinessRacial wealth gapwealth gap

These 2 Charts Prove We're Nowhere Near A ‘Post-Racial Society'

These 2 Charts Prove We're Nowhere Near A ‘Post-Racial Society'
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By 

Senior Reporter, HuffPost

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White people only accounted for a little less than 64 percent of the U.S. population in 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. So how do you explain this chart?

The above chart, which was created by Matt Bruenig of Demos using 2010 data, breaks down wealth in the U.S. by race. As you’ll notice, while white Americans make up only 64 percent of the country’s population, they lay claim to more than 88 percent of its wealth.

What does that look like on a more personal level? It isn't pretty:

This racial divide is costing all of us. According to a recent report by the Altarum Institute, closing the earnings gap would cause total U.S. earnings to rise by nearly $1 trillion, or 12 percent.

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Before You Go

How Increasing Income Inequality Leads To Less Opportunity
The Great Gatsby Curve(01 of05)
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"The Great Gatsby Curve shows that children born in countries with high levels of income inequality will experience less economic mobility on average than children born in more equal countries," the Center for American Progress reports. (credit:Center for American Progress)
Getting Ahead(02 of05)
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"Economic mobility is determined by three major institutions that all interact with income inequality: the family, the market, and the state. Changes in any of these three areas affect the rate of mobility in a country, "the Center for American Progress reports. (credit:Center for American Progress)
Parents Matter(03 of05)
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"Countries with high levels of income inequality also have higher levels of teenage parenthood. Teenage parents cannot invest in their children as much as other parents can due to their lower average incomes and lower levels of human capital, which harms the chances for opportunities for their children," the Center for American Progress reports. (credit:Center for American Progress)
Labor Market Inequality Matters(04 of05)
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"Countries also have lower levels of intergenerational economic mobility when the difference between the pay of college graduates and noncollege graduates is larger," the Center for American Progress reports. (credit:Center for American Progress)
Access To Education Matters(05 of05)
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"Access to high-quality education is also important, as countries have lower levels of economic mobility when a child’s educator is more determined by who educated her parent," the Center for American Progress reports. (credit:Center for American Progress)
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