All Hail Mammon

Accelerating Income Disparity Attracts Atlanta Boosters, New York Bankers

San Francisco’s extreme economic inequality is second only to Atlanta’s nationwide according to research from the Brookings Institution, but ours is increasing faster so naturally Atlanta has sent a delegation to Silicon Valley this week to learn the secret to marginalizing the poors. Though maybe they should have gone to New York to woo banker bros, instead?

Travis Kalanick, chief executive officer of the ferociously expanding Uber, has said that between 10 and 15 percent of his hires come from the financial services industry, with a full 5 percent coming from Goldman Sachs alone.

 

Comments (4)

Reading that article, I was shocked to learn our top 5% is earning over $350k. THAT’S A LOT OF MONEY. I understand they’re not spread evenly through town, but the idea that 1 in 20 of the people I walk by is making that kind of scratch makes my financial grip on life here feel even more threatened. Hard to compete for housing and everything else when up against that. The $12 I spend on a Rhea’s sandwich is the equivalent of $2 for them. I’m surprised things aren’t even more expensive than they are.

Do you mean to say that the MEAN income of the top 5% in SF is $350k? Median income? Lowest annual income among anyone in the top 5%? Does the top .01% in SF earn 3.5 million?

The article refers to that as the the 95th percentile, suggesting to me that the bottom of the top 5% is $350k and we go up from there.

Why don’t they compare the top 20% to the bottom 20% ?