The Orange County Register
May 10, 2001
by Michelle Quinn
According to a study conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California, inflation adjusted family income at the 10th percentile dropped 14 percent, from $15,810 in 1969 to $13,600 in 1999. (The 90th percentile increased 58 percent – from $86,140 to $135,850.)
Deborah Reed, an economist and co-author of the study:
“When we have families with disparate income, how do we offer equal opportunity to the children? Children of the rich are afforded better schools and health care.”
Comment: Since our economic system supports and encourages the movement of capital from lower and middle income individuals to the wealthy, it becomes even more imperative that we have in place a system that will assure health care access and coverage for all of us, as health care is becoming less and less affordable.