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This single chart tells you a lot about how Americans think about wealth

Wealth isn't a spectrum that Americans fall on anymore. It's a coin — one side the Haves, the other the Have-nots — and everyone takes a side.

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According to the latest Gallup poll that asked Americans whether they consider themselves to be a "Have," "Have-not," or neither, the trend is clear: The proportion of Americans who identify as have-nots has more than doubled since 1988.

The Haves are the people who generally feel comfortable. They don't carry the daily stress of knowing where a meal will come from — unlike the Have-nots who probably spend as much time envying the good fortunes of others as they do worrying about their own livelihoods.

The poll showed 58% of Americans consider themselves to be Haves, 38% considered themselves Have-nots, and a record low 5% weren't sure or chose neither. That's a wild shift from 27 years ago, when 17% of people identified as Have-nots and 24% chose neither option.

haves vs have nots
Andy Kiersz/Tech Insider

While most people did say they don't see the country fracturing along these lines, those that did were far more likely to be in the Have-not group (63% to 35%). Meanwhile, those who rejected the dichotomy were more likely — 64% to 36% — to consider themseves Haves. Only 53% of people making less than $36,000 a year considered themselves Have-nots.

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The problem of income inequality has vexed the US for decades, and some suggest the only workable solution is a radical one. Maybe the US could learn something from the Netherlands, whose experiment with basic income is a few months in and already taking over the country.

Wealth
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