Final answer:
The income gap in the United States has grown significantly since the 1980s due to economic changes and policy shifts. Wealth has become concentrated among the wealthiest, with the middle class experiencing a decline in income, size, and wealth. The Gini coefficient highlights this growing wealth disparity.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that most accurately describes the income gap between rich and poor in the United States is that wealth has become increasingly concentrated among the wealthiest, while the middle class has seen a decline in income, size, and wealth since the 1970s. Particularly since 1980, the income gap has expanded significantly due to economic restructuring and changes in tax policies. The Great Recession exacerbated this trend, leading to a situation where most Americans feel poorer and suffer from consequences impacting health, crime, and psychological wellbeing.
Economic restructuring and supply-side economics have contributed to the widening income gap, evidenced by the fact that one-half of the nation's income gains from increased productivity went to the top 0.01 percent of earners between 1966 and 2001. Additionally, despite increases in productivity, the workers' income has largely stagnated.
Using the Gini coefficient, a measurement of wealth inequality, we can see the growing disparity between the rich and the poor. Moreover, the top one percent of the population holds one-third of the nation's wealth, while the bottom fifty percent holds only two percent. Such inequality is higher than in Western European countries like Germany but lower than in regions with the highest inequality, such as Latin America.