Virginia is the most unequal state in the union, and is more unequal than at any time in (post-Reconstruction) history

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2017/12/24/virginia-is-for-paupers.html

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and is more unequal than at any time in history

Post-Emancipation history, maybe. Certainly recent history, as the graph illustrates. I don’t usually nitpick your headlines, but it’s not cool to brush aside the inequality between those who are paid something and those who are paid nothing for their labour.

[ETA: thanks for making the edit]

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So…what happens if you factor out the DC suburb area? Lets be realistic here, the western part of the state has very little in the way of high income job prospects. Or just see this:

https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/united-states/quick-facts/virginia/median-household-income#map

I don’t a solution, but as someone who lives in the Piedmont area of NC I do have coworkers who live in VA and commute because of better paying jobs.

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Update: Of course, Virginia was a lot more unequal in slavery times, when the poorest people in Virginia were enslaved and had no wealth or wages at all.

That’s not just an “of course.” The plantation system was predicated on the ultimate inequality, and gave us thinkers like Jefferson. History is complicated.

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As someone who lives in the… checks … third-lowest-income county in VA, I came here to say just that. DC Metro is a world unto its own, as is – in a very different sense – SW VA. That they happen to share the same state legislature is largely accidental.

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A whole stack of comments, mine and others, have vanished from this topic without notice.

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You’re surprised? You must be new here.

Actually, a recent study found that wealth inequality now is worse than it was in the 1770s, including allocations for slavery, and another found that it is worse than during the Roman empire.

Holy shit, yes. That’s a shame. There was some lively discussion here that got unceremoniously wiped. Thanks, trolls.

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