March 11, 2013. A letter to the editor by James Parrott, Crain’s New York Business.
Greg David’s March 4 column (“Inequality debate doesn’t reflect reality”) could have been titled “Economists agree NYC’s inequality is very high and poverty is up; some think it’s a problem.”
Fiscal Policy Institute reports have documented this reality: The local economy has fared better than the nation overall in the recovery, yet inflation-adjusted median incomes here have plummeted by 8%, more than for the U.S. overall, and poverty has increased as much here as for the nation overall.
Also, income polarization has soared over the past 30 years even more in the city than for the nation overall. Nothing in the New York City Economic Development Corp. (EDC) report that Mr. David cites suggests otherwise.