Comprehensive treatment of the American condition should probably include an examination of money as well. Jeremy Caplan, a reporter in Time ’s Business section, had long suggested that the magazine print a graphic package on the nation’s income distribution. None had yet seen publication, but Dykman’s project represented an opportunity for such a piece. A visual representation of the nation’s income distribution could be an effective way to demonstrate how much wealth the nation’s richest controlled. It would furthermore be easier for readers to understand and digest than a set of income figures embedded in a narrative. “The key message or key facts or stats behind something can sometimes be obscured by elegant writing or a story, a narrative,” Caplan notes. “That takes people’s attention away from the heart of the matter towards the nuance or decoration of it.” ^[33]

Dykman considered what an income distribution graphic should accomplish. “We always hear about the top 1 percent of earners, but what is that?” Dykman wondered. Furthermore, what was the ethnic distribution of income in the United States? What were the demographics of poverty? Income inequality was rising in the US, though economists had yet to achieve a consensus on the reason. There were several possible approaches to this topic on his list.