The income disparity between rich people and poor people in the United States is astonishing. The average income of families in the top 20% of income distribution is 10 times as large as that in the bottom 20%, according to Pulling Apart: A State-by-State Analysis of Income trends (Economic Policy Institute, 2000). This spring, members of the Coalition of Immokalee farm workers staged a "March for Dignity," walking the 230 miles from Fort Myers, Florida, to Orlando to draw attention to the fact that their wages have remained unchanged for 20 years, I joined in the march as the farm workers walked through Sarasota, the nation's 16th-wealthiest metro area; retirees in their Mercedeses and Lexuses were annoyed that traffic was held up as the farm workers, following a plaster Statue of Liberty in a field truck, waved posters requesting a fair wage. The rate in 2000 for picking two tons of tomatoes in the sweltering Florida sun is dollar 50.
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