The pyramid accompanying your article is NOT the American pyramid. I am going to show you what the American pyramid looks like, Scott.
The USA does not have a system of Full Representation. In the voting booths, the voters are pegged against the voters for the win. It is a system of divide-and-conquer. Many go home empty-handed after they voted.
Winner-take-all contains a hole in the center, and so we have an essential hole in our democracy. Many voters end up being excluded from being represented.
The US pyramid is therefore skinnier and taller than a normal pyramid.
Capitalism in nations with winner-take-all show greater abuse of people, with much lower incomes near the lower end of society, than in nations with Full Representation.
The American poor are actually closer to the global poor than you think. You are not paying attention to the real poor in the USA. You are misinformed about the finer details of the US pyramid.
Here you can see that it truly matters what kind of voting system a nation has in place. Look particularly at the white areas of columns #4 and #5. These white areas show that these nations do not sink as low as some nations with the other two forms of democracy.
The bottom 10% of people have on average more money in nations with some form of Full Representation than those with pure winner-take-all, or those with a winner-take-all president in top position.
The USA’s bottom 10% has 1.8% of all its wealth/share of income or distribution. Canada: 2.7%. Denmark: 3.8% These are all small percentages, but having 1.7% in the US (say $500 a month) or having 3.8% in Denmark (say $1,000 a month) does make an enormously important difference if that person happens to be you.
The data shown in the graph is statistically significant.
P.S. World Population Clock says 8 billion people. When I was born, there were just 3 billion people. The rich keep getting richer and the poor keep having babies.
