Causes And Effects Of Inequality In America

In Paul Krugman’s essay, “Confronting Inequality,” he discusses various points about how America has developed into quite the divided country over the years. The United States of America has become unequal in terms of annual income, living standards, education and school districts, politics, and social standards, just to name a few. Several matters of combatting the injustice faced by the nation are also mentioned. All of Krugman’s points revolve around one central question, being “why should we care about high and rising inequality?” (Graff, Birkenstein, Durst 561). I believe inequality truly does raise concerning problems within our society, but it also may be a positive thing for our people. Extreme equality could, in turn, result in a communistic government in which those who work into overdrive earn the same titles as those who do not.

Living in a society that does not help its people to live comfortably and provide facilities for them to achieve their demands, is harmful. One of these harmful affections is “social inequality” in each diverse society. Social inequality occurs when resources in each society are distributed unevenly, typically through norms of allocation, that engender specific patterns along lines of socially defined categories of persons. The United States contains one of the most common social inequalities for its population and that is “social stratification and mobility” and the government should strictly investigate this social inequality for people who are living in the United States.

According to Henslin (2015), “Weber illustrates, a large group of people who rank close to one another in property, power, and prestige; according to Marx, one of two groups: capitalists who own the means of production or workers who sell their labor” This is a dynamic that should be working currently in American society. However, in the past three decades there has been a gap between the poor and the not very rich. This gap has not happened by itself. According to Reich (2015), in the movie Inequality For All, “…the all

Her argument and reasoning within the essay talks about how economic inequality is “widely known and widely studied” (1). She persuades her readers with many convincing facts and research that contribute to her argument that economic inequality in the United States is nearing its breaking point (2). Jill Lepore writes about the Gini index and how we have been using this method for a hundred years to measure economic inequality and writes “In 2013, the U.S. Census Bureau reported a Gini index of .476” (1). Jill Lepore argues “The growth of inequality isn’t inevitable. But, insofar as Americans have been unable to adopt measures to reduce it, the number might seem to suggest that the problem doesn’t lie with how Americans treat one another’s kids, as lousy as that is. It lies with Congress” (10). She clearly states that even with this knowledge Americans still have made no changes and are incapable of decrease the inequality as it grows within the United States but are willing to blame other things instead of the real issue.

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.

In “Confronting Inequality”, author Paul Krugman explains how bad income inequality is for the American economy while suggesting what to do to fix this growing problem. Krugman covers topics such as the cost of inequality, how the middle class is over extending themselves, education and health care all while appealing to all three rhetorical elements. Krugman’s article has an overall effective and persuasive argument because of the topics he covers and his appeal to the reader with pathos, logos and ethos.

The issue of income inequality is a reoccurring theme in Maria Konnikova’s article “America’s Surprising Views on Income Inequality” as well as Barbara Ehrenreich’s memoir Nickel and Dimed. To commence, Konnikova writes about the rapid growing gap between the rich and the poor. In particular, she elucidates, “Income inequality has grown by record amounts since the 2008 recession: between 2009 and 2012, incomes for the top one per cent of the population rose by more than thirty per cent, while those for the rest of the country-the bottom ninety-nine per cent-increased by less than half of one per cent” (Konnikova 1). Clearly, it is difficult for low-class individuals to make enough money to support themselves and their families. Furthermore,

Jill Lepore shows strong evidence of Inequality in The United States by using Logos as a dominant resource in her essay. Readers can see that she is able to support her claims by using statistics to improve her knowledge of the intended argument of Income Inequality in the U.S. Jill Lepore uses strong evidence shown by the Gini Index(1). Which supports her stand on how Inequality in the U.S is raising and how U.S Citizens are unaware of the changes that have not yet been made that could inevitably improve the problem of Inequality in the U.S. Jill Lepore States that “Between 1947 and 1968, the U.S Gini Index dropped to .386, the lowest ever recorded. Then it began to climb”(1). Jill Lepore then tries to show the U.S Citizens that with all the statistics shown she is able to provide more effective proof that Inequality in America is on a rise. Furthermore, Jill Lepore uses examples of statistics in her essay “Richer and Poorer Accounting for Inequality” and demonstrate to Americans how efficient she is at using Logos. Using logos in this way strengthens her strategy to efficiently point out to U.S Citizens that the state's Inequality is becoming a bigger problem by the day.

“One reason to care about inequality is the straightforward matter of living standards. The lions share of the economic growth in America over the past thirty years has gone to a small, wealthy minority…”(Krugman 586).

In the essay, “Richer and Poorer, Accounting for Inequality” written by Jill Lepore, published in The New Yorker, on March 16, 2015, the author addresses the inequality of income and its correlation to opportunities for citizens in the United States. Ms. Lepore expounds the essay to serve her purpose of connecting with the reader in both a reasoned and emotional way. Effectively using the rhetorical strategies, logos, pathos, and ethos, the author brings this apathetic subject to the attention of the middle and lower class American citizens.

The United States has returned to a time of the gilded age for inequality. The middle and lower class are in need of more help financially and economically. In this article “Confronting Inequality”, by Paul Krugman, claims that inequality is negatively affecting society and democracy. Lastly, I think Paul Krugman is correct about income inequality causing social inequality, and the United States should consider some of his solutions. One could argue, that income inequality causes social inequality.

People can not put on the news without seeing at least one story about social inequality or injustice, if everyone knows about these inequities why are they not being solved? Inequities are not limited to America, social inequity is a global problem making it extremely important to raise awareness of the topic. Inequities such as racism and sexism impact teenagers in America, but to counteract this persecution authors can use various genres of literature to promote tolerance and reduce the effects of inequities. Racism and sexism violates people’s rights in schools, the workplace, and almost every place in the world. Through the words of authors, society can learn the harmful effects of these inequities, and learn how

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.

A major social problem in America today is its inequality of the distribution of income. "Income inequality refers to the gap between the rich and the poor. The United States has the most unequal income distribution in the industrialized world, and it is growing at a faster rate than any other industrialized country" (Eitzen & Leedham, pg. 37). The main reason as to why income is distributed so unequally is because of the gap between social classes.

Income inequality is a phenomenon that is undeniably real in our current world, and more specifically, the present United States. Canon describes how the gap between the elite and the poor has been consistently growing for many years and continues to widen (189). Whether the differences between the top and the bottom are a threat to current society is another story. Does income inequality undermine a democracy? Ray Williams argues that societies are strongest when they have a higher rate of equality while George Will challenges that inequality is the very basis of what make democratic processes. A. Barton Hinkle takes a Libertarian approach to the idea that inequality is threatening to democracy and how it can be fixed. Some threats that each article addressed were economic impacts, civility, and fairness. Overall, there is a definite need to evaluate whether the United States democracy is being threatened due to the continuous rise of the elites and the fall of the working class.