Dunce Bill Maher: U.S. Is Fifth Worst in the World in Income Inequality
In this week's "How Dumb Is Bill Maher" segment, the Obama-supporting comedian actually said on HBO's Real Time Friday that the United States ranks fifth worst in the world in income inequality.
Actually, we rank 43rd (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):
Shortly after the panel segment began Friday, Maher asked his guests, “How bad is income inequality going to get when unions disappear altogether?”
Michael Brendan Dougherty, the politics editor at Business Insider, replied, “It’s going to get much worse.”
“How could it get much worse?” asked Maher. “I mean, right now we’re fifth in the world, fifth worst in income inequality.”
Where did Maher get this figure?
Well, that's anybody's guess for according to the CIA's World Factbook, America currently ranks 43rd.
That puts us better at this statistic than over 30 percent of the nations ranked by the CIA.
Some notables with far worse income inequality include Thailand, Hong Kong, Chile, Brazil, Mexico, China, Peru, and Argentina.
So, once again, as he does virtually every time he's on television, Maher was not only wrong about something he arrogantly claimed as fact - he was dead wrong.
Keep up the bad work, Bill!
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— Noel Sheppard (@NoelSheppard) June 9, 2012
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Comments
Define 'income inequality?'
Submitted by Galvanic on Sat, 06/09/2012 - 10:42am.
Is this the difference between the highest and lowest incomes? Is it differences in income within the same occupational position? I don't know.
As to the effectiveness of labor unions, how does Maher explain that somehing like two thirds of Wisconsion government employeers quit their union when the state removed the requirement to belong?
And Maher has the stones to
Submitted by motherbelt on Sat, 06/09/2012 - 11:16am.
And Maher has the stones to call Gov. Walker a "mental retard."
he must be won of dem
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Sat, 06/09/2012 - 10:55am.
inteelectuwalls.
If you don't like the real number...
Submitted by wizardjr on Sat, 06/09/2012 - 11:01am.
just make one up. These libtards have been nailed again and again just making up "facts" because the issue "is so important" that it supersedes actual facts.
That survey does not take into account...
Submitted by zenman1661 on Sat, 06/09/2012 - 11:06am.
that with countries like ours the top most range of income is much higher than other countries which can skew the ranking.. In a lot of nations the ranking is high not because the lower half is doing well, they are still poor. It's just the upper half has a standard of living equivalent of our middle class, so the gap between the upper and lower half is smaller.
What happened after that?
Submitted by motherbelt on Sat, 06/09/2012 - 11:12am.
No one on that panel questioned him??
Oh, but wait! Maher doesn't have to make sense....he's a comedian!!
How about Maher's show?
Submitted by JeffC... on Sat, 06/09/2012 - 11:26am.
How much more does Maher pay himself versus the girl who does his makeup and hair?
Are his employees unionized? Maybe they should.
It won't work--he'll fire them all if they try. If there's one thing leftists hate, it's when their own ungrateful employees band together and demand things from them.
Income inequality is BS.
Submitted by Dan The Man 2 on Sat, 06/09/2012 - 11:33am.
Income inequality is BS. There is inequality but not for the perceived reasons the leftists believe.
Recently my leftist cousin
Submitted by MrSnuggles on Sat, 06/09/2012 - 1:20pm.
Recently my leftist cousin posted a picture on facebook saying that our "income inequality" is worse than pakistan and the ivory coast. I asked him when he was going to move there to enjoy their lower "income inequality". Still waiting for a response.
PM Thatcher summed up
Submitted by Chulio on Sat, 06/09/2012 - 12:48pm.
PM Thatcher summed up economic equality:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv5t6rC6yvg
Noel Sheppard
Submitted by opportunity cost on Sat, 06/09/2012 - 1:36pm.
Among OECD countries (developed), the US as of 2011 ranks 4th worst in the world in income inequality. Bill Maher was on point here.
http://www.oecd.org/document/24/0,3746,en_2649_33933_2671576_1_1_1_1,00....
opportunity lost - look up the tale of ---
Submitted by matthewdean on Sat, 06/09/2012 - 7:14pm.
Sisyphus.
Your liberal posts are the equivalent of his boulder - circular, heavy, and they are the epitome of the efforts of Sisyphus - a complete waste of time.
MD
Did Maher say 5th worst out
Submitted by MrSnuggles on Sat, 06/09/2012 - 10:07pm.
Did Maher say 5th worst out of 25 countries that are a part of some obscure organization called the OECD? You deserve your own dunce cap for that one.
More comedy ...
Submitted by almostacowboy on Sat, 06/09/2012 - 2:29pm.
from HBO.
Interesting little drop in Maher's chart - Middle Class income
Submitted by Gary Hall on Sat, 06/09/2012 - 5:03pm.
Well, it took me a minute to find it, but here is the chart that Bill Maher has up and he slobbers all over bad information. No surprise that it's from the Center for American Progress Action Fund:
A funny thing occurred from about 1993 to 1995; this heralded "Middle Class Share of National Income," suddenly collapsed. Hmm - that'd be Bill Clinton's term. Somehow to me it seems to be trailing the sizable decrease in the falling rate of "Union Membership." Perhaps it could be rephrased as, as the rate in the fall of union membership slows, the middle-class income share of the national economy collapses.
Further, I seem to be noticing that during the Bush years, the middle-class share held it own.
Darn charts put out by the left.
(;~/ gary
What a boob
Submitted by donabernathy on Sat, 06/09/2012 - 10:11pm.
Hey Bill suppose you make 500k a year and Ya Boss ( the guy that owns the company) makes 1 mil a year...... that's a 50% Income Inequality...... now suppose you make 40k a year and the owner of the company (your boss) makes 50k ....... Jeebus that's only a 10% Income Inequality......... WHICH SALARY YA GONNA TAKE..... hum sport
roflmao
Growth of Income Inequality Is Worse Under Obama than Bush
Submitted by LiberatedCitizen on Sun, 06/10/2012 - 9:02am.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/04/growth-of-income-inequality-is-wo...
I love income inequality!
Submitted by Dave the mailman on Sun, 06/10/2012 - 10:24am.
I want people who work hard and succeed to make more than the losers who stay at home and leech off society and troll conservative forums.....
Income inequality....
Submitted by adamsmith on Sun, 06/10/2012 - 11:18am.
is often the result of "effort inequality".....In Bill Maher's world the two squirrels during summer, one that works hard and saves his acorns, the other fritters the day away having fun, would have to have income equality. The squirrel that worked hard and saved had to cough up 70% of his acorns to give to the lazy bastard after the Commie Squirrel Contingent came to equalize things. Next he's going to have to move as property rights are removed for the common good. Now that I think about it, I think Maher has a couple of squirrels up his rectum, that would explain a lot....
I think a more telling
Submitted by Librlrevolution on Sun, 06/10/2012 - 8:01pm.
I think a more telling statistic would be what the average income for the the bottom 20% in the US is compared to the bottom 20% of the rest of the world. I'm not sure what it is but I would bet that our poor have it better than the middle class in a lot of parts of the world.