IT seems quite shocking that white workers earn 50% more than black workers. But we are even more disturbed by the fact that the best paid fifth of all white workers earns 600% more than the worst paid fifth. From this viewpoint, racial inequality looks almost insignificant.
Poverty is not primarily hereditary. While children born into poverty have a higher than average chance of ending up poor, there is still an enormous amount of economic mobility from one generation to the next. Indeed, there is nearly as much economic inequality among brothers raised in the same homes as in the general population....