The short essay here appears on the New York Times Room For Debate webpage. It comes from Patchwork Nation Director Dante Chinni and was one of seven responses to the question: Why do Americans seem unperturbed about the growing gap between the rich and the poor? Please stop by the Times' page and read all the responses and feel free to add your comments there or here.

Anger Is Growing

A better question is: Why do Americans seem relatively unperturbed about growing wealth inequality, so far?

The journalism project I lead, Patchwork Nation, uses demographic and economic data to break the nation’s 3,141 counties into 12 types of communities, from wealthy suburban areas to small-town service centers. We recently looked at median family incomes in 1980 and 2010 in those communities, and the findings were troubling. Seven of the 12 county types actually had a lower median family income in 2010 than they did 30 years before in inflation-adjusted dollars. Not only had they not kept up, they’d fallen behind.

So wealth inequality is real, but where’s the outrage?

Until this latest recession, many Americans papered over the issue. They ran up credit card debt. They took equity out of their homes. In short, they found ways to at least keep up appearances. They got comfortable living beyond their means.

Those times are gone and, as a result, we’re starting to see some anger manifesting itself in different ways. We looked at online supporters of various Tea Party groups and found membership was strong in places hard hit by the recession. That’s what much of the Tea Party talk about “getting America back” is really about -- getting back a way of life. The sentiment is understandable, even if the goal is impossible. The world has changed too much.

The global economic changes underway mean the days of succeeding by “working hard” and “playing by the rules” are disappearing. You need education and, increasingly, a head-start financially. In some communities in America those things are readily available. In others, they’re barely visible.

Up to now, many Americans have been waiting to see if their current economic problems are temporary, or something more. As they begin to feel the larger forces involved, they will grow increasingly frustrated and, yes, angry.

Get ready for a populist movement in years ahead -- one that could take many forms -- and a very bumpy ride.