[Verse 1]
Income is the money flowing in each year
Your paycheck and your wages crystal clear
But wealth is what you've saved up through the years
Your house and stocks and assets that you hold dear
Market income's what you earn before the state
Takes taxes out or gives you help that's great
After-tax transfer income is what's left
When government assistance fills the cleft
[Chorus]
Gini coefficient measures the divide
Zero means we're equal side by side
One means one person takes it all
Ninety-ten ratio shows the gap so tall
Top one percent share tells the story
Of concentrated wealth and glory
These are the numbers, these are the keys
To understanding inequality
[Verse 2]
Real wages adjust for prices that have grown
What buying power have the workers known
Median household income splits in two
Half above and half below that's true
Labor share of income shows the split
Between the workers and the capital fit
When labor's share is falling down
The workers lose while profits gain the crown
[Chorus]
Gini coefficient measures the divide
Zero means we're equal side by side
One means one person takes it all
Ninety-ten ratio shows the gap so tall
Top one percent share tells the story
Of concentrated wealth and glory
These are the numbers, these are the keys
To understanding inequality
[Bridge]
Social mobility comes in two forms clear
Absolute means you're better off each year
Than your parents were when they were young
That's the song prosperity has sung
Relative mobility's a different game
Can you climb higher than from where you came
Compared to others in your generation
That's relative across the whole nation
[Verse 3]
From nineteen forty-eight through seventy-three
Broad prosperity was the key
Real wages rose and inequality fell
Most Americans were doing well
But since then trends have changed their course
Inequality's grown with tremendous force
The middle class has felt the squeeze
While wealth concentrated with such ease
[Chorus]
Gini coefficient measures the divide
Zero means we're equal side by side
One means one person takes it all
Ninety-ten ratio shows the gap so tall
Top one percent share tells the story
Of concentrated wealth and glory
These are the numbers, these are the keys
To understanding inequality
[Outro]
Income versus wealth and social mobility
These concepts help us see reality
The rise and fall of shared prosperity
America's economic history