This image perfectly sums up inequality in America, according to the Internet
This meme, posted to image-sharing site imgur.com earlier today, has struck a chord with the Internet: it's currently sitting in the number 1 slot on reddit after being upvoted by thousands of redditors in just a few hours.
As far as distillations of our inequality debate go, it's a pretty good one. Lawmakers in several states are seizing on popular resentment over anecdotal stories of extravagant spending by welfare recipients to limit what the poor can do with food stamps or other government aid.
Meanwhile, the wealthy continue to see advantages in wealth and economic opportunity, thanks in part to economic policies that favor them. Like that yacht in the picture, for instance: savvy billionaires know that there are any number of tax deductions that come with owning a boat -- the bigger, the better.
The yacht in the image is real, by the way -- a massive 196-foot mega-yachtwith a gym, a floating indoor boat garage, and an aquarium. But if you listen to some policymakers in this country, wealth inequality isn't the problem -- the problem is poor people buying steak and going to the pool.
RELATED:
Christopher Ingraham writes about politics, drug policy and all things data. He previously worked at the Brookings Institution and the Pew Research Center.
335
Co
