America's income inequality problem, in one depressing chart

Democrats have made income inequality a prominent issue of late, and there's a good reason why: Wealth distribution in the U.S. is far less equitable than it is in just about any other developed country.

Using data from the OECD's latest Society at a Glance report, the following chart compares countries based on their Gini coefficients. In short, the Gini coefficient is a number between 0 (representing perfect income equality) and 1 (total inequality, with one person holding a nation's entire wealth.)

"The United States continues to have higher levels of inequality than most OECD countries," the report says, "driven by rising gains by the wealthiest 1 percent and greater poverty among the poorest Americans." Keep that in mind the next time someone claims all this income inequality talk smacks of class warfare, socialism, or Nazi Germany.

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