E radicating Poverty: Moving Forward As One We all know that all around the world rich are getting richer. Nearly thirty years ago, the richest 1 percent of Americans got 9 percent of total national income in the United States, By 2007, they had 23 percent. In 2009, new census data show, the rich-poor income gap was the widest on record. (David R. Francis - Christian Science Monitor ). According to Timothy Noah of Slate , the United States now has a more unequal distribution of wealth than some of the third world countries like, Nicaragua, Venezua and Guyana. Timothey writes, “ All my life I've heard Latin America described as a failed society (or collection of failed societies) because of its grotesque maldistribution of wealth. Peasants in rags beg for food outside the high walls of opulent villas, and so on. But according to the Central Intelligence Agency income distribution in the United States is more unequal than in Guyana, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, and roughly ...