the wisdom of crowds isn't

[rmd]

via jpmassar, an article that includes INFOGRAPHICS and everything about how misinformed most people are about the wealth distribution in the United States. (Wealth, not income.) Slate takes a look at it, too.

Here's the graphic, found on page 13 of the original paper (link goes to a pdf)

From the pdf: "Note: Because of their small percentage share of total wealth, both the “4th 20%” value (0.2%) and the “Bottom 20%” value (0.1%) are not visible in the “Actual” distribution."

Comments

[navrins]

Wow. I find that chart surprisingly hard to understand correctly. I've figured it out, I think, and it doesn't actually say anything that still seems obviously wrong to me... but it took me a long time to figure out that it wasn't saying the median income is a lot higher than I know it to be (around $50k).

There also seems something odd about citing the median income of particular income brackets, though I can't quite put my finger on exactly what it is.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

It's not income, though. It's wealth. So if we both made the average annual income, but you had a $10M trust fund while I had no major assets and a house with an underwater mortgage, you'd be in the top quintile and I'd be somewhat lower down.

[navrins]

Oh! Wow, I totally missed that. Okay. Hm. I don't think I have any instincts about what that would be.

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was the best 5 minutes of googling got me. It's also wealth, not income, but there is something odd about it indeed.