USA! USA! We're No. Ah, Um 98?

The Gini coefficient, named for an early 20^th century Italian statistician, measures distribution of income within nations. A "0" means everyone has the same income, and a "1" means one person has all the income and everyone else has no income. For convenience, the coefficient is multiplied by 100.

So what does this have to do with being number 98?

Of the 136 nations rated in the CIA World Factbook, Sweden has the most equal distribution of income for a coefficient of 23. Namibia has the most unequal distribution of income with a coefficient of 70.7. The U.S. with a coefficient of 45 means 97 countries have more egalitarian economies. Only 38 countries have greater economic inequity than the U.S.

To add perspective, Canada and Western European countries have indices in the 20s and low 30s. Only Mexico, Brazil and South Africa from the G-20 rank below the U.S. Countries with similar indices to ours include Rwanda, Jamaica, Uruguay and Cambodia. Even Mongolia, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan at respectively 32.8, 33.2 and 36.8 rank better.

What's more, it's getting worse. In 1968 our index was 38.6. There are two reasons for the growing inequality; bloated executive compensation and stagnant middleclass earnings.

According to the Economic Policy Institute, since 1979 nearly two-thirds of all income gains went to the top 10 percent of earners; 39 percent went to the richest 1 percent alone. The ratio of average CEO income to average factory floor pay rose from 42:1 in 1960 to 531:1 in 2000 at the height of the stock option bubble. It's now around 344:1 European and Japanese CEOs do very nicely for themselves at a ratio of 25:1.

Meanwhile, the last decade, even prior to the crash, was the first one since the 1940s in which the economy expanded while working class wages flatlined. Years of busting unions, outsourcing, stripping assets and off-shoring jobs have had the effect of suppressing wages and jacking up profits.

This trend, of the rich getting richer and the middleclass getting stiffed, is not just bad for workers it's ultimately perilous for business itself and unhealthy for the country.

A strong, vibrant middleclass propels the real economy -- not just the phony Wall Street money-churning economy -- in which people can afford to purchase goods and services and small businesses in turn can prosper; exactly the opposite of what's happening today. As importantly, it adds stability to families and communities and stabilizes democratic institutions.

This isn't a matter of redistribution of wealth or taxing the rich -- God forbid anyone with a concern for America ever suggest that -- it's a matter of the executive class seeing beyond their inflated egos and massive greed and demonstrating some actual patriotism for the country that has given them enormous advantages.