Essay on Analysis of YouTube Video Wealth Inequality in America

“Inequality for All” is a movie reveals the truth about the United States’ economy with a speaker used to be the Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, Robert Reich. Throughout the film, Robert gradually proves what is happening in terms of the distribution of income and wealth, why and is it a problem. He provides plenty of graphics, interview

In today’s capitalist economy, where economic transactions and business in general is centered on self-interest, there is a natural tendency for some people to make more than others. That is the basis for the “American Dream,” where people, if they worked hard, could make money proportional to their effort. However, what happens when this natural occurrence grows disproportional in its allocation of wealth within a society? The resulting issue becomes income inequality. Where a small portion of the population, own the majority of the wealth and the majority of the population own only a fraction of what the rich own. This prominent issue has always been the subject of social tension

Wealth inequality in the United States has grown tremendously since 1970. The United States continuously reveals higher rates of inequality as a result of perpetual support for free market capitalism. The high rates of wealth inequality cause the growing financial crisis to persist, lower socio-economic mobility, increase national poverty, and have adverse effects on health and well being.

Americans today live in a distinctly unequal society. Inequality is now wider than it used to be in the last century, and the division in income, wages, and wealth are broader than they are in other developed economies of the world. Wealth inequality is the imbalance of wealth or income within a society, and it is one of the most vital economic challenge the US is facing today because the distribution of wealth is more dispersed, making the inequality in wealth distribution at its highest. While the matter has been discussed for many years, the actual income disparity in the U.S. has heightened and is now verging on an extreme gap that portends to impede long-term economic growth. The huge gap between the wealthy and poor is squeezing the U.S. economy, the wealth gap threatens economic growth by diminishing social mobility and producing a less-educated workforce who are not able to compete in the global economy. unrestrained level of income inequality causes political pressures, it discourages trade, investment, and hiring. The present level of income inequality in the U.S. is shrinking GDP growth, and the world's largest economy is struggling to recover from the Great Recession.

This article titled "How income inequality hurts America” written by Steve Hargreaves explains the thesis statement itself. On the other hand, he states it’s not just income equality but it’s also lifespan inequality, education inequality, and declining economic growth, which refers to the graphs shown above the starting paragraph. Mr. Hargreaves then points out a fact that the rich are getting richer, while the poor and the middle class are falling behind. Another fact concerning this issue is the 400 richest people outnumber the wealth of the bottom 150 million put together.

In the video, Wealth Inequality in America, there were many things that caught my attention the second time around that i had not understood the first time listening to it. When they had surveyed 5,000 people I was not surprised to see that the ideal for most Americans would be a somewhat even distribution of wealth among the various groups. What I was most shocked about was what most American think about the distribution of wealth is not even close to what the reality has to hold. The fact that lowest 20 - 30 percent don't even register as sharing in the wealth of America as they are behind the poverty line. They are living of “pocket change”. The top 1 percent didn't even shock me as much as how the middle class did.

Dan Ariely, A psychology and behavioral economics professor at Duke University, explains the inequality gap behind social classes in America through his ted talk “How equal do we want the world to be.” Ariely argues that it is important for society to step away from their expectations of reality to have a more educated understanding of the truth behind certain topics such as the inequality of wealth. Ariely persuades his listeners through his use of rhetorical devices such as visual aids, appeals, and his interaction with the audience. In this paper, I plan to focus each paragraph on how each element is a useful contribution to his argument.

This is a topic that had been lingering in the shadows until the Occupy Wall street movement made many take a good look at the inequalities that exist all across the board. Vidal states that “the outrage of Occupy was directed at the top 1 percent of the population, an elite class consisting mainly of investment bankers, corporate executives, and layers who currently own 35 percent of the total net wealth in the United States.” (Anderson pg 270) Vidal explains that in order for us to fully understand economic inequality we need to take a look at the stagnation of living standards experienced by millions of

When considering this, it is wholly possible to understand the saying that “the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer”, as it is true. This was brought into the spotlight by the Occupy Movement, and the slogan of “We are the 99%”. This, in turn, begs the question; who are the one percent?

Wealth inequality is already shaping American politics and society, and has the dangerous potential to be the defining problem of the upcoming generation. A sizable cause for wealth inequality in America is a dire lack of

society, the idea of income inequality is a frequent topic of argument. Many believe that a large income inequality distribution has a negative effect on a society, while others feel that it has very minor, nonexistent, or even positive effect. Some of the factors that affect the income inequality in the United States are low minimum wages, education, and discrimination of race and gender. The swelling income inequality gap in the United States has created numerous social, health, and human capital problems. There is a ton of information to digest regarding who the majority of money is split between and who is actually benefitting from it. There are numerous factors that affect the income inequality and the data associated with the results of it are rather

What is wealth inequality? “It is the difference between individuals or populations in the distribution of assets, wealth or income.” [1] In sociology, the term is social stratification and refers to “a system of structured social inequality” [2] where the inequality might be in power, resources, social standing/class or perceived worth. In the US, where a class system exist, (as opposed to caste or estate system) your place in the class system can be determined by your personal achievements. However, the economic and social class that an individual is born into is a big indicator of the class they will end up in as an adult. [3] What are the effects of this wealth inequality in the US and what causes it as well as some possible solutions

The somewhat controversial issue of wealth disparity is, why there is such a huge economic disparity in the class system and how can it be dealt with. The reality of redundantly confirming the vivid difference among classes with regards to economic wealth would be an understatement. First and foremost, the US is a combination of

One of the social issues concerning power, status, and class in American society today is income inequality. The income gap between the social classes has increased drastically throughout the last few decades, creating a significant gap between the wealthy and the poor. This gap has become so large that the middle class has nearly diminished, creating a social class comprised of the rich and the poor. The significant gap between the two social classes is unhealthy for the economy because it provides too much power in the hands of those with high social status.

The video is briefly, but explained the details of social inequality depend on the social classes of our society; upper class, middle class, and the lower (working) class and how it is that the resources in a society are unevenly distributed. It is explaining how each classes are treated in education and healthcare. One of them are the wealth distribution in the United States; the fact that Top 20% of US are taking control of 72% of the world