Amongst first-world, developed nations, the us has the highest inequality. Developing nations, with a rich established elite, little to no middle class, and a massive lower class will obviously score worse than the us. They are not, however, the countries by which we should judge ourselves. Look to the productive nations of the world for an apt comparison, and you will see that the us is an outlier with an ever-richer upper class and a shrinking middle class. This brings the us in line with developing countries, which is hardly where it should aim to be if the goal is long-term sustainable growth, the benefits of which are not limited to a select few.

Exactly my point. Among nations with hardly any inequality, America may not compare so great, but it's still a nation with hardly any inequality.

Go to downtown Portland today and you'll find young people from middle class families living on the streets by choice. That's how good our safety net is. You really can't get yourself into the same sort of poverty that you see in most of the world here.

In most places, being poor means you're likely to die of starvation in the near future. In the US (and other countries on that chart), it means you can't afford a new television this year.

So sure, there's always room for improvement. But it's a bit silly to compare the USA to places that actually have a big divide between rich and poor.

Singapore beats America as the highest income inequal first-world developed country by a small margin. It's got a ginni coffecient of 47.8 vs Americas 45. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/...