Collectivist's View Of Social Welfare

The soundbite criticisms of capitalism are legion, yet it’s harder to offer alternatives, aside from the vague notion of 'something else'. Despite the carnage of trying to socially engineer equality in the 20th century, nevertheless the myth persists that capitalist wealth creation is superfluous and money is readily available to a small number of elitists called a government under common ownership, who distribute, or simply print more paper. Ironically, the ones shouting the loudest against capitalism are often those dependent on the profits of capitalism to provide the welfare payments needed to keep them alive.

Living or subsistence wage is amount of income needed to maintain basic standard of living. Theoretically, this wage should bring people out of poverty if implemented. The real take home wage for most workers are far below this ‘utopic’ living wage. Absence of living wage for most workers has been recognized as a contributing factor to the difficult task of upward social mobility with resultant diminishing equality of opportunity and relative poverty for most workers in this country today. The concept of working poor is born out of this dystopic social stratification. The threat this and other social determinant factors posed to the realization of the lofty goal of ‘American Dream’ are the subject of this paper.

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.

Often times in liberal societies the wealthy take all of the money, leaving the middle class and the poor with nothing. The text chosen for source one emphasizes the fact that the wealthy and corporate elite need to take care of the poor, that it is their responsibility to ensure the common good is being met. It explains how higher classes have a collective obligation to help those who are in need. This idea corresponds with having a collective responsibility; a strong principle of collectivism. The ideas given in the text are collectivist ideas, describing how it is a responsibility of the rich to work for the common good, not just their own good. This mimics another principle of collectivism: collective interest. The author of the source does not explain the ridding of the social classes, but they outline the ideas of the upper class making sure that classes lower than them are being taken care of. The source does not describe government involvement, which is why the source mirrors the ideas of Robert Owen and Utopian Socialism. Owen believed that it was the factory owners job to take sure that their workers were treated with proper care and consideration. This puts an emphasis on a great responsibility of the rich working towards the collective good, just as the source described above. In contrast, many capitalists would likely disagree with the notion, because it puts restraints on the economic freedoms they hold so dearly. Capitalists believe in pursuing your self

No matter which country you would look into whether it’s from wealthier to those less wealthy countries through the eyes of economics, there are bound to be types of inequity within their borders. Inequity is a very crucial problem in the United States, you would think that our economy here in the states is booming, and the citizens are living life easy or without worry. Life is the United States isn’t as it seems, in fact, Inequity is in fact a big problem even in the United States. Over the years, there has been millions of Americans that were considered to be in poor or in poverty line that are not able to provide for themselves and their families. We can sadly see those Americans on the streets, cars or shelters unable to keep-ends meet that are not able to keep a decent paying job. That is why throughout this paper I’ll be discussing why inequity is a big issue in the United States from how income is distributed through causes of income inequality, social status, and even how the government interventions is trying to alleviate income inequity.

The OECD says that since the mid- 1990s more than half of all jobs created in the member states has been in non-standard work. According to the members, households that depend on such work have higher poverty rate than other household and that this has led to greater inequality. In 34 states is says that 10% of the population earn 9.6 times the income of the poorest 10%. Some believe it’s because of the wide gap in education. It is happening in the most unequal countries, which leads to leads effective workforce. There is no difference in inequality but some studies showed that it slowed down during the financial crisis and now it is growing again.

This article comes from ABC news and was written in the last two weeks. The title of the article is “Why it Matters: Income Inequality” and the concern of the article is how in America the rich keep getting richer and others are left behind in the dust unable to support themselves financially. This concept relates to Chapter One of the text when it was said that “market forces of globalization facilitating exploitation of the most vulnerable members of society on an even larger scale than previously possible.” (*** pg.3) This is one of the key topics that have been debated during the course of this year’s presidential election. The candidates are constantly being asked what they would do about the large income gap that is happening in America and how this huge crisis could be solved. The middle class is seemingly non-existent because of the difficulty

While theories such as “trickle down economics” support the wealthy creating more wealth for the lower income levels there is more evidence elaborating the benefits of living in a country with higher economic equality. When there are higher levels of economic equality countries enjoy more political stability, better health conditions, and a better outlook on the nation and jointly, life. The following graphic and its

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 “The unequal distribution of household or individual income across the various participants in an economy. Income inequality is often presented as the percentage of income to a percentage of population.” (Investopedia). Some believe income equality is the biggest problem of the 21st century, President Obama believes it to be “the defining challenge of our time” (white house). Some economist believe that increase inequality has a correlation effect with higher rates of health problems, social problems, that it harms economic growth, creates higher persistent unemployment and polarizes opportunity. Historically one can make the argument that other advance nations who have collapsed, have had great inequality and economic stratification. Other economist argue that true ‘equality’ is impossible because people have different skills and abilities. Income inequality natural and a benefit because I creates incentive to work harder. It’s important to understand the effects of income inequality on a nation’s society and labor force. What type of problems income inequality could cause or doesn’t cause. This essay will give a comparative study of Income inequality in the United States of America and France, and how it effects labor and economic activity.

Saez presents his credible data through the use of ethos. Saez is a well-known economics professor who devotes time to publish reports about the income inequality in America. Although his reports are strictly opinion, he uses enough historical statistics and actual facts to make his writing credible. Many historical theories lay a foundation that helps prove income inequality is necessary. Social Darwinism is a collection of theories that explain why the rich get richer, while the poor become poorer. Social Darwinists generally claim that the strong and successful people should see their wealth and power increase while the weak and unmotivated should see their wealth and power decrease. This is an excellent explanation for the cause of income inequality and why it shouldn’t be stopped. Wealth can sometimes be a direct result of the hard work and dedication of a person that is motivated to become successful in life. While most people may work as hard as they can and only make an average income, there are the few exceptional cases where people can prosper and rise to great economic stability. For all other citizens, the reality is they may be motivated and driven to become successful just like everyone else, but can only manage a low or middle class job. This reality

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.

In today’s modern society, the United States faces many public policy issues, whether those issues include social welfare, immigration or even environmental issues. Congress receives numerous issues on public polices every day, but they cannot handle and solve every issues that comes across their daily agenda, nor can they satisfy every person in this country. Congress prioritizes on those issues that are more important and relevant to find a probable solution too. A growing issue we see that in today’s society are issues in the social welfare system. Social Welfare has so many issues within some of those issues include the food stamps, and even in the healthcare system. The matters in social welfare requires every individuals help to resolve, not just congress. The second major public policy issue we face in American today are within the Public Assistance Programs. Those programs include the SNAP, SSI, and even the TANF program.

The institutional approach to social welfare is proactive. It addresses needs and problems that may arise before the need is seen/developed in individuals. Examples of this include social security, public education, and tax exemptions for the number of children in a household (Segal, Gerdes, Steiner, p.40). The institutional approach tends to be broader and less detailed in terms of resources, money, and the size of the population in need.

Capitalism is when the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer. Capitalism has mercy on no one. Each individual lives in a society where the mass crowd complain about how the big business are buying the smaller ones but just doesn’t grasp the idea that all this is happening because of the consumers themselves. Within a system just as there is pros there are also cons, cons that are costly in the end. One of the biggest cons that capitalism promote is wealth inequality. Wealth can be inherited, so some people can be rich just due to luck of their ancestors. The others that are not so lucky has to work hard for their earnings. So this becomes a problem because not only does it promotes wealth inequality, it also promotes inequality of opportunity. Capitalist societies are failing to create both equality of outcomes and equality of opportunities. Example of this is the Great depression which lasted from 1929 to the beginning of World War II, profoundly shook the world’s confidence in the capitalist system. The crisis began with the crash of the New York stock market and resulted in widespread economic damage throughout the world, including bank failures, massive unemployment, and bankruptcies. According to the article Capitalism it states, “In addition, the suffering that resulted from the Great Depression highlighted the vulnerability of the labor force. In the United States, 25 percent of workers lost their jobs, and bank failures wiped out many people’s life savings.”