Income inequality may be the most important and divisive topics in our society today. It has far reaching consequences that will affect all of us in the years to come. But in the future, we will all look back and think back to now, and think about how we got to where we did. How the political climate and the division of the country corrupted our ability to sort out what kind of society we want to be. The “Gotcha!” politics of today has devolved our elections and government into a popularity contest of who has the least skeletons in their closet, without much care to the actual policies of those elected. This has led to an almost inevitable spiral down to the rich in power, with everyone else fighting over petty issues. Many try to hold onto an America that only could exist in the mid-twentieth century, the America that McClelland says, “...was a historical fluke, made possible by the fact that the United States was the only country to emerge from that was with its industrial capacity intact,” (McClelland 550). That America is over, and it is time to start looking towards what the country must evolve into. That is where the issue of income inequality comes into play. We must look at its root causes, and change the system to dampen or remove those causes. More specifically, we must look at the increase in overall income of the top earners of society, the shrinking of the middle class, and the role of government in the economy.
It is no surprise that “...the top 10 percent of
Income Inequality in America is a problem that’s been going on for decades, and many feel that it hardly exists, the many people that feel that way are highly uneducated, and seem to not really care about this tremendous problem that in one’s eyes really has no end in the near future, in fact it has been gradually rising and one feels that it’s just not fair. Unfortunately, there’s not much that can be done, only of course if the poor class of people decide to actually educate themselves and get a higher education. One says poor class, simply because that’s how they’re classified. There are five types of levels that Americans are classified as, and they are: 1. Upper Class, 2. Upper Middle Class, 3. Middle Class, 4. Working Class, 5. Poor.
Edin and Skinner begin their article by explaining to their readers that income inequality is a prevalent and complex problem in America today. The authors also point out that although President Obama and several other Democrats have proposed legislative approaches, such as raising the minimum wage and taxing the rich, to combat this problem, it will take a long time for these proposals to become law due to the Republican-dominated Congress. Because the authors believe these laws will take too long to be put into
The United States of Inequality is an article that delves into the harsh realities we face in our country today, with regards to income inequality. Income inequality in the United States is at a rise. And the sobering factor is that so little is being done to address this issue. According to a new study by researchers at the Economic Policy Institute, forces of rising inequality are operating at an all-time high throughout the United States. The study, “which measures income inequality by state, metro area and county, shows that inequality has risen in every state since the 1970s.” It also shows that rising inequality is deep-rooted. “Recessions in recent decades have temporarily slowed income growth among the top 1 percent, but they have not altered the basic pattern in which the rich have gotten much richer while nearly everyone else has seen income stagnate or decline (Tritch, "The United States of Inequality", 2016).” In all, the top 1 percent in the United States captured 85.1 percent of total income growth from 2009 to 2013. In 2013, the 1.6 million families in the top 1 percent made 25.3 times as much on average as the 161 million families in the bottom 99 percent.
Income inequality has been a rising problem in the United States for the past few decades. One of the main issues surrounding this years is election, especially for the Democratic candidates is income inequality and how to address it. Public opinion on income inequality and the government’s role in changing it can easily shape how the election turns out this year which can make great differences to the lives of American’s for years to come.
Income inequality has been a common problem among people in the United States. A prime example of a group facing income inequality is the middle class. The middle class has served as the backbone to a working economy for decades. Though, lately, the middle class is facing a downward spiral: it is slowly shrinking in number. Because the Middle class will never truly be eliminated, solutions can be limited; however the best thing to do is to try to strengthen this weak link. As Richard Nixon said in his Address to the Nation, we are a “working class” as a whole, we should be using that backbone to uphold our nation. The middle class does so much in our economy that the fall of this keystone could possibly cause a complete domino effect in the
In 2013, President Obama asserted that the growing income gap in the United States is a “defining challenge of our time”. Economic inequality consistently ranks amongst the greatest concerns of voters and is the subject of growing national and international attention. As such, explorations of rising inequality are not new. Where the readings are revelatory, however, is in their efforts to expose the fallacy that economic distribution, be it the hyper-concentration of wealth at the top or the existence of poverty at the bottom, is ‘natural’, nothing more than an economic reality caused by ‘inevitable shifts in [the] economy driven by global, universal pressures’ (Hacker & Pierson, 4). Instead, the authors posit that economic inequality is ‘largely a product of political decisions and institutions that generate and sustain a sharply unequal distribution of wealth and resources’ (Williams, 569).
Pundits say that income inequality has been one of the greatest downturns of our country’s growth and development, however a puzzle exists where economics and politics meet that does not make the solution to income inequality easy to find. Political leaders, economists, and bankers all agree that policies have appealed more to the interests of the governing class than those of the ordinary people. The comments surrounding this topic mostly stem from the strong shift of wealth distribution over the last few decades. Figures from the Economic Policy Institute demonstrate that the share of income accumulating by the top 1 percent of the United States increased from 9 percent in 1978 to 26 percent in 2011.
The United States has long been a world leader in many areas such as industry, agriculture, science, education and health care. From rural communities to the largest cities, prosperity abounded in these fields. The middle class enjoyed much of the success as families were able to fulfill many of the aspirations that made up the American dream. Unfortunately growth in many of these areas has slowed along with the income families used to earn. The reliable and dependent income of the middle class has long been fading and along with its social norms. The effects of the economic inequality described in the article “Income Inequality is Costing the U.S. on Social Issues” by Eduardo Porter, are now becoming clear that society can longer hold itself
Income inequality is a major issue throughout society in the United States of America, due to a corrupt and inconsistent economy that is displayed for individuals to suffer through. Those who are rich or poor in the United States of America should not all live equal lives. Yes, rich people benefit the most from income inequality, however they do not participate towards a fair level of taxpaying commitment, in comparison to those individuals who live low or middle class lifestyles. Anger occurs frequently from high-class individuals when the conversation of equal tax paying money becomes issued as a relevant topic and issue. The answer towards fixing income inequality should not make every high, middle or low class individual live in an equal wealthy lifestyle, it actually means the opposite view. As the three different social and wealthy classes exist, all of those individuals who live in their classified lifestyle, should have to pay taxes in the economy that appear fair and appropriate towards the type of income that they receive.
America having redeemed its democracy after the conclusion of the civil wars, it becomes regrettable that it betrayed that it was going to reveal the same with the concentration of wealth. However, how much it is inevitable to avoid inequality of income and wealth, the level of wealth among those at the high ranks of the economic status points a potential threat to equality among all the citizens of a nation. The issue is not whether income inequality is bad or good, the question of contention is, and at what point does this inequality start to pose a threat to the equality of opportunity and above all the democracy of a nation. America had reached that tipping point of inequality that had never been seen during the Gilded Age of the 19th century. With inequalities as a result of income levels, it was complicated to correct the dysfunctions of an economy. The office of the Congressional budget pointed out that between 1979 and 2007, during the beginning of great recession the income gap after payment of the transfers and federal taxes tripled; there was an increase in the after tax. While this was happening, the medium household income was continuously falling.
It has been known for a while that the top 1% owns the majority of the United States’ money, being at around 35% of the country’s wealth. There are many factors that affect this, such as the wealthy able to make investments, the amount of debt a person has, and income inequality. What measures the amount of wealth one person has is the amount of assets they currently hold on them. It could be objects such as vehicles, houses, very few debts, etc. Income inequality can worsen wealth inequality because the income people have available to save and invest matters. White families accumulate more wealth over their lives than black or Hispanic families do, widening the wealth gap at older ages. black families, on average, have carried more student
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.
One of the most deeply divisive issues in the United States is the question of income inequality: whether it exists and whether we are obliged to address it. The “American Dream” ideology which permeates most aspects of our daily life, influences an automatic response to income inequality to be that those at the bottom are not working hard enough and that those at the top have earned their wealth through hard work. These perceptions of poverty and inequality limit productive conversation that can lead to meaningful change, which at a purely moral level, could lift those up who are struggling and at an economic level, could incite growth and increase consumer purchasing power. The United States is perceived as a land of opportunity and upward social mobility to those with sufficient work ethic. This is promoted by our media and subconscious cultural values. Data over the past several decades, however, indicates that the United States is becoming a less equitable society and opportunity is shrinking due to social, economic, and cultural factors that perpetuate an insidious cycle. The inequality in our society must be understood and addressed as it has the potential to result in negative consequences for the economy and human population of the United States..
In today’s modern world, as the technology has developed better daily, whereas the gap referred to income inequality between rich and poor still has not solved but has widened. Income inequality simply refers to the extent to which income is unevenly and unreasonably distributed in manner among a population. The inequality brings economic instability, but sadly most people are not relatively concerned about the wide inequality between classes. Ever since the distance between upper class and middle/lower class has been stretching and growing gradually and markedly for almost 30 years, it has become an important political battleground and deeply troubling in the world, and within the United States over the past few decades. The great disparity is immoral because it leads to wealthier people to unevenly distribute an unacceptable degree of control in a society. The great disparity also undermines in the fairness of political institutions and the economic system over many aspects of the lives of poorer people and also increases depress demand of consumption levels depending more on the wages middle/lower income earners than the profits of the wealthy. From this perspective, the outrageously huge disparity between classes should be eliminated. The best ways to reduce inequality income would be to make fairer taxes which means to lower taxes on middle and lower income earners or even raise the minimum wage effectively since asset prices
Potential reasons for income inequality in the economy has to do with several aspects. Education has a lot to do with income inequality. Employers are looking at a person’s level of education to determine what pay (non-salary or salaried) they should receive. That’s where the impact comes in to play for income because there is a lot of people who or not determined nor have the personal ability to get an education although it is free. Employers are no longer looking at the amount of experience that you have, but more so what level of education to have obtained. Yes, it’s easy to find a job if you’re are motivated, but that’s not the issue the issue is not receiving the pay that’s even worth working for. Another reason for income in equality