America Needs Better Funding For The Safety Net Programs

Living in America is said to provide an opportunity to anyone who works hard and strives for prosperity. Despite this saying, many people still reside in the lower-class after years of working laborious jobs. Indeed, some people have miraculously found their way out of the gutters on the system, but most people happen to not be as lucky. Through experience, author Barbara Ehrenreich finds that the social divide in America makes the American Dream much more difficult than it is perceived to be by the upper class. The truth she finds by living as a person in poverty incited her frustrations and disgust with the system. The attainability of the American Dream is definitely unlikely, but still not impossible.

The view that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer has been heard repeatedly in reference to America’s income inequality. Though ironic, it comes as no surprise that America, a continent that easily trumps other countries in terms of wealth would be affected by the issue of poverty at such high levels. While much has said regarding the poverty levels, many economists, educators and scholars feel that the income inequality in America may be the reason why it is difficult to live and maintain a middle class lifestyle or to rise out of poverty into the middle class in the current economic state. With this in mind, the only way America, has a chance of lessening or eliminating poverty altogether is by understanding how it exists.

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.

Brandon King, a law student who majored in political science, writes on topics of inequality and political structures in the United States. One of his published works, The American Dream: Dead, Alive, or on Hold?, debates his interpretation of the notion of the American Dream and whether the concept is dead, alive, or on hold. The speaker emphasizes his belief that the common phrase is still alive within America and that one must work hard in order to achieve it. When it comes to the topic of the American Dream, King will eagerly agree that the idea is still alive and thriving in the minds of Americans; however, I deem that the idea is on hold within American society due to lack of upward social position and economic mobility.

Since its discovery North America has been a home for the dreamers, the desirous, and the world changers. This can be attributed to many things, but the idea is always consistent. America holds a promise; holds a certain kind of hope. Some call it luck, but others would call it the American dream. The idea that one can take nothing and turn it into something beautiful and new is at the root of our civilization. Though in the past half a century, America and its economy has drastically changed, as options for the poor have been taken away, and their ability to become successful has been stripped away by cooperations. This topic has been examined by articles such as Crumbling American Dreams, The Pernicious Economic Trap of Low Wages, and

Back in the 1950’s and 60’s, when the American Dream was alive and well, a middle class, working family could afford a house, a vehicle, and send their children to college on a single income. Sadly, today, for the majority of Americans, the American Dream, is just a dream. It is an unattainable fantasy that is out of reach for the average American family. The old phrase of pulling up your boot straps and get to work can no longer harvest an income that can support oneself and by no means a family. This was all caused by lobbying of the elite one percent by paying politicians for tax breaks. For America to once again have a thriving middle class, we must revert back to the 90 percent marginal tax of the mid-20th century because tax cuts for the one top percent hinders economic growth, tax breaks causes public education along with higher education to suffer, and tax cuts and breaks also cut many government aids that many Americans rely upon.

This “middle-class nation” is struggling to support all those who live in its borders and the misconceptions about wealth are vastly overrated. Furthermore, the idea of wealth and stability is incorrect, and there is a very sharp contrast between the rich and poor in the country. As the richest twenty percent of American hold ninety percent of the total household of the total household wealth in the country, those at the bottom have managed very poorly and suffer to get through the days.

Certainly, the American Dream represents the flawless ideal for all people who constantly and honestly work to achieve their personal and family goals, because it constitutes opportunity, health, education, jobs, housing, among others. Nonetheless, in our nation, the shocking disparity between rich and poor, and how this imbalance continues to affect the financial future of the country, are challenges that nobody can ignore, but that unfortunately, no one can overcome by themselves. The gap has dangerously widened in all areas, and, what we can do ─ in the silence of our hopeless souls ─ is to cautiously wait until the nightmare

Over the past few decades, the “American Dream” vision has been quickly vanishing as a result of the increasing troubles and weakening of the middle class. It has lost the view of being the most successful and wealthy middle class in the world, while the middle classes in other countries are excelling in earning higher middle and lower class incomes. The issue of the declining wealth of the middle class explains a huge problem in the United States’ future prosperity and well being for the citizens and the country. There are many issues that affect the success of the middle and lower classes, such as structural differences in the economy, culture, and government. The gap between the middle and high classes is increasing specifically. The United States has the image of giving people life and prosperity, but inequality is increasing significantly due to issues in education, decrease in taxation among the upper class, and decrease of middle class power in the democracy, while other ideas and mechanisms can be take from other nations.

The government should not provide welfare to people whose income is below a threshold. What constitutes poverty, in my opinion, is arbitrary. Should a person be considered poor at the point she doesn’t have anything to eat? Or at the point she can’t afford cable television? Should she be considered poor if she doesn’t have access to credit? I would not hesitate to help out a poor housewife who just left her abusive husband. I would be opposed to, however, to pay for someone’s cable only because they don’t make enough money.

America is one of the world’s largest and prosperous developed countries in the world, but take a closer look and you realize that the great United States of America has an alarmingly large amount of poverty. Where there once used to be an “American Dream” there now lies the cold hard truth, there is less and less opportunity every day and growing inequality every second. Joseph E. Stiglitz how America has turned into a country that would be unrecognizable to any of the founding fathers. In The Price of InequalityStiglitz visits this problem and searches for the source of the economic inequality that the United States is faced with today. Stiglitz came to the conclusion that America is declining and turning into a society like the one

Every American dreams of finding a job that pays well enough so that they may comfortably take care of their loved ones and themselves for years to come. Most Americans hope to find some way to make a living that they enjoy, something that they view as productive. Unfortunately, many do not have this luxury. In our society, a good portion of the population is forced to hold the base of our country in place while hardly being redeemed for their time and effort, and thus the problem of income inequality. Numbers of these people live from paycheck to paycheck, barely getting by, not because they manage their money poorly, but because the value of their time at work is negligible.

Social Welfare Spending includes the School-Related Programs and Family Support Payments. School-Related Programs are also for Non-education related school programs- including school busing, school healthcare, teacher recruitment, and nutrition. The Family Support Payments go to more than 4.9 million families who fall below the poverty line and affect 14.2 million recipients.

Many Americans believe that America has one of the most powerful economies that is involved in the global market and the best average living standards. Since the creation of the United States it has been known as the land of endless opportunities, regardless of social or economic classes. Under this philosophy, all citizens should have equal rights and given equal opportunity to progress in the workforce. However many Americans are living full lives and do not have financial obstacles to get over. Even so, millions of Americans are still faced with poor living conditions and struggle with providing for their families basic needs. Whether Americans believe poverty and inequality exist in America exists or not, the authors in three different articles:” Culture of Success” by Brink Lindsey, “A Great Time to Be Alive?” by Matt Yglesias, and “Born Poor and Smart” by Angela Locke, and “The War Against the Poor Instead of Programs to End Poverty”by Herbert J. Gans, shared ideas on how to help fix the problems of the impoverished community and address the cause of the problem. The four articles also explain different biases that the impoverish have to endure everyday.

When the United States of America comes to mind, one will typically associate it with the common phrase, “The American Dream.” Ah, yes, the land in which “we are the authors of our own fate” (Graff, Birkenstein, Durst 539). Throughout the readings, it has been argued that the American Dream is dwindling due to worldwide economic development and middle-class-erasing government policies. Conversely, claims have been made saying the American Dream is intact and more alive than ever. This dispute alone is creating a divided nation. There are also underlying reasons as to which America may not be as promising as it appears, considering it still seems as if certain groups are provided with more opportunity than others. Following the examination of various essays on American inequality, I have concluded that The American Dream is nothing but a dream. Those with a higher education will just about always gain the ideal opportunites over the uneducated.