A False Self Portrait Of The United States Of America Essay

From 1938-1969, in America was in a period called the great compression, a time where the difference between the richest and poorest Americans was very small and economic growth was explosive. Due to past and current economic policies and events, income inequality has exploded in America, which is why in 2015 America had the highest level of wealth inequality in the world at 80.56 gini[1] . In the future this inequality will slow down economic growth, increase debt for middle income Americans, make America less democratic, and reduce economic mobility. This problem, however, does have solutions and this paper will lay out some of the solutions and the effect they will have on the economy, but first I will explain the history of income inequality in the US.

There is no doubt that wealth inequality in America has been escalating quickly; the portion of total income earned by the top one percent has doubled since the beginning of the 1970’s. The wealthy are the main beneficiaries

The American economy has been in a constant rise since the economic decline earlier this decade and keeps on being the vigorous beast it was amid the twentieth century. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute concluded that the income wage hole between the wealthiest and the poorest one fifth of families is altogether more extensive than it was two decades prior. The middle class has not seen the advantages of this powerful American economy. The middle-income pay has stayed level at 44,389, an assume that spoke to a 3.8% diminishing from its top in 1999. In 2005, the median income, when adjusted for price level change, really declined, a pattern that has proceeded since 2001. Since the 1970s as the salary for the wealthiest 1% of Americans has multiplied, wages for middle class families have stayed even, however this is simply in the wake of including a second household income. Even workers with college degrees, who were once viewed as first class specialist, have witnessed this wage stagnation, as income of laborers with 4-year professional education fell 5.2% when adjusted for price level change from 2000 to 2004.

The highest earning fifth of U.S. families earned 59.1% of all income, while the richest earned 88.9% of all wealth. A big gap between the rich and poor is often associated with low social mobility, which contradicts the American ideal of equal opportunity. Levels of income inequality are higher than they have been in almost a century, the top one percent has a share of the national income of over 20 percent (Wilhelm). There are a variety of factors that influence income inequality, a few of which will be discussed in this paper. Rising income inequality is caused by differences in life expectancy, rapidly increases in the incomes of the top 5 percent, social trends, and shifts in the global economy.

The commentary from the author Jim DiEugenio(2014), of this article, Tracing the Source of Income Inequality,” does an account the second part of the book, “Capital in the 21st Century,” by Thomas Piketty. DiEugenio(2014) covers a wide array of topics concerning the public policy issue of income equality in not only the United States, but also globally in the latter half of the report of the book. In the beginning of the article, DiEugenio(2014) discussed about the differences in periods of the American economy with the eras of Reaganomics, the economy after the Great Depression, as well as the era after World War I. The economic era after the the Great Depression was a bustling time due to the programs being offered for low income

Despite dipping below ten percent between the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, the income gap in the United States has climbed steadily over the last fifty years. From its low point in 1973, the wealthiest Americans’ income share now exceeds even that which they held in 1928, on the eve of the Great Depression. Experts have pointed to several potential culprits, including the underrepresentation of lower- and middle-class citizens in legislatures, the shrinking power of organized labor, the expanding power of organized business, and a tax system that seems to disproportionately favor those at the top at the expense of those on the bottom. These factors vary greatly in level of impact and the feasibility of potential solutions,

According to a 2013 article in the Economist, the US currently boasts the highest post-tax level of income inequality of any high-income country in the world (Economist 2013). The nations Gini Coefficient – a measure of wealth inequality – currently stands at .42, well above that of other nations such as Switzerland and Sweden, which have Gini Coefficients of .31 and .33 respectively. Unfortunately this high level of income and wealth inequality is growing. Between 1979 and 2011, American earners in the top one percent saw wages increase by 113 percent, earners in the 95th percentile saw wages grow 37 percent (Fuller 2014). However, the income growth for the median worker during that same period was a mere six percent. These simple

Capitalism has been the central force behind the growth of the United States’ progressive economy. Within such advanced economic system the chances of economic disparity are significantly high. In fact, over the past three decades there has being a steady increase in unequal wealth distribution among the economic classes. To sustain the current unequal wealth distribution among the classes of the American population, there are numerous factors that influence and shape this trend. For some members of the population it is alarmingly disturbing to know that recent statistics have shown that, “In the US [alone] the wealthiest 1% of its population owns more than the bottom 95 %” (Gutman). As for the difference in economic wealth, it resulted

In the United States, income inequality, or the gap between rich people and everyone else, has been rising noticeably since the middle of the 20th century. Matters of inequality appear very significant issues that play a large role in the public discourse the last thirty years. As the discussion works up, it’s important to recognize some essential details about how income inequality is considered. For instance, the difference in average household incomes between whites and blacks, the recession of the year 2008 that hit the state although the gap between rich and poor wasn’t much different than it is now, the lack of adjustment for locality and the huge differences in cost depending on where you live, and the low and slow economy. In our everyday

Since the 1970s, the United States economic distribution of wealth has shifted. The rich continue to get richer while the poor continue to get poorer. It is a growing trend that has left a huge gap in income. As of today, the top one percent of the U.S total population owns ninety-nine percent of the country’s wealth; meanwhile, the bottom 99 percent of the U.S population owns merely one percent of the country’s wealth. This staggering statistic is the reality of the one-sided wealth distribution; it is a grueling cycle that has plagued the nation for past decades. Something as crucial and critical as this is the result of the blunder that the U.S government has committed with continuing to enforce its laissez faire commitment towards business,

The growing disparity in income and wealth between the richest Americans and “the rest of us” is very much in the news these days. Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel-prize winning economist, has been writing about economics for a very long time. This book brings together short pieces that appear in publications such as Vanity Fair and the New York Times warning the dangers of inequality as long ago as 2007. This book is in nine sections. Each of the nine sections of the book is preceeded by a lengthy introduction providing an overview of the topic of that section. The first section he calls a Prelude because it discusses the 2007-2008 recession and the response to it that built the backround for the increasing inequality seen today. The middle

It is a fact of American life that income is not distributed evenly. For many of decades, we have been dealing with the issue of income inequality, especially in the United States. Income inequality is highly important because it impacts our economy on multiple levels. From researchers to politicians, many blame other factors for the humongous gap. But in any case, there won't be an agreement made to obtain the fairness.There are multiple causes for the rise in inequality, numerous factors that affect the equality, and various views to reduce income inequality in America.Even though many people believe that income inequality does our country good, others believe that the inequality is an enormous burden on America’s lower and middle-class families.

Being the third largest religion in the United States, as of 2016 there are 3.3 million Muslims that make up the total U.S. population. American Muslims come from all different backgrounds including converts from other religions and ethnicities other than Arabian.

There are many inequalities prevalent in the US, and as a capitalist society, one of the most common is economic inequality. The Equality Trust defines economic inequality, as the gap between the well off and less well of in regards to overall economic distribution (“How Is”). See, our capitalist society strongly benefits those with a capitalist mentality and can afford the means to invest/own capital. Over the years there has been an increasing wealth gap between the top one percent earners and the general population. So why are the rich flourishing while the poor are struggling in this capitalist environment? The policy decisions of our country allow this inequality to permeate throughout our industries, thus creating a culture of power and greed. One result of this culture is the explosion of high salaries in the US and Emmanuel Saez explains this trend in Striking it Richer. Saez affirms, “Indeed, estimates based purely on wages and salaries show that the share of total wage and salaries earned by the top 1 percent wage income earners has jumped from 5.1 percent in 1970 to 12.0 percent in 2006” (Grusky 89). Too bad that the 99 percent of America missed out on this massive economic growth spurt. When economic growth is not evenly distributed among the general population, people tend to question our entire system. This has been an increasingly controversial issue, where corporate America is responsible for the constant exploitation of low-level employees. Through my

The base of Soviet fear was based and strengthened not on fact but a fear of the