Escaping the Traps to Find Success

Income inequality is on the rise and it is evident in most cities throughout the United States. There are individuals with six to seven figure incomes and then there are individuals whose income is just enough to get by. The middle class is not as prominent as the upper and lower class. This should be the other way around. There should not be so many cities with very wealthy neighborhoods right next door to low class, rundown neighborhoods, with little middle class households. Digging deeper, 47.6% of the money in the United States belongs to individuals that receive $98,200 or more (“Distribution of U.S. family income”, 101). The middle class should be much more noticeable with the upper and lower

Everyone knows what the word poverty means. It means poor, unable to buy the necessities to survive in today's world. We do not realize how easy it is for a person to fall into poverty: A lost job, a sudden illness, a death in the family or the endless cycle of being born into poverty and not knowing how to overcome it. There are so many children in poverty and a family's structure can effect the outcome. Most of the people who are at the poverty level need some type of help to overcome the obstacles. There are mane issues that deal with poverty and many things that can be done to stop it.

countries. These foreign aids will in turn help a people rise to establish a better understanding of

The last issue concerning wealth inequality is the health and well being of the lower class. The high rates of social problems: lower rates of performance in school, life expectancy, incarceration, teenage pregnancy along with health problems like obesity and heart disease are directly effected by the United States high inequality. The reason for poor school performance is that children of the lower class typically do not plan on going to college because they cannot afford it. If they do not plan on going to college, they don’t believe there is a reason to put a lot of effort and succeed in high school.

I agree, that economical inequality brings the social inequality, where as a result, we would have a society of unequal opportunities. And this situation directly influence the future of the children, their chances to succeed in their lives and careers. We can clearly see that children with high status are

The different wage gap and social class is yet another aspect that will hinder the ability for good people be able to achieve what they want to do in life. Part of the reason that poverty is such a problem is the fact that it relates back to racism and the fact that only certain people and certain genders are able to hold jobs in business and communities. There is a huge pay gap between different races compared to the white income level. The mean black income is 60% less than the white pay. This causes a numerous amount of different problems that hold other races back. It makes it harder for them to raise a family and change their life. One of the ways that they could change their life is if they were to move to a different area and try to

In all economies, in all times, and in all places, there has been inequality. Sometimes it has been in the form of forced and immobile classes and sometimes the disparities have been the result of forces outside of the population’s control. There have been those who conquered and those who were conquered. History documents early civilizations organizing class systems within each new civilization. It is human nature to organize in this way. There have always been those who have more and those who have less. Yet, that does not make it okay for those suffering in our lower classes. It does not make it okay for those forced into this lower class who are unable to rise above it. The attitude toward those in the lower classes can be improved upon. There are many who believe that there are “plenty of jobs available for poor people, that government programs breed dependency and that most poor people would prefer to stay on welfare” (Lauter). The standard of living needs to be raised so that the impoverished people in America continue to be richer than those

The higher the difference in inequality, the weaker the econom actually becomes (Lowrey 15). The economy reaches an unstable point and people tend to become mistrusting with their own government. The inequality "blocks opportunities at the bottom and shelters those at the top" (Esping-Andersen n.p.). In other words, it is extremely hard for people who live in poverty to work their way up the economic system and have better opportunities and chances for themselves to take. The people that are already rich and living life with no problems, do not even have to waste a second thought on what would happen if they ran out of money, because they know for a fact that it would never happen. Also, the economic struggles would lead to slower economic growth and slower job creation (Lowrey 15). If people do not want to take the jobs because they do not see a point, people are going to start shortening jobs and limiting the amount of people that they hire. Political instability, violence, and economic destruction will also start to take effect, even if it is not noticable

Income inequality in the United States has been increasing gradually as from the 20th century where there was economic stability. It is estimated that around a quarter of the American worker population receives not more than $10 in an hour. Through this condition, it creates an income that is below what the federal poverty level demands. Those who receive low income include the fast food employees, cashiers, nurse's aides and many more. Other individuals get good payments which are above $10 per hour. Wealth inequality in America is quite common as there are those who are the major economic block and those who can’t afford even the three meals in a day. The social issues that income and wealth inequality might cause in the United States include poverty, household debts becoming high, high crime rates, no health insurance for the low-income families, high mobility rates, high crime rates and school dropouts.

High income inequality prevents an economy from growing, so the current status of the wealth gap in the U.S. is dangerous to the future of the U.S. economy. In fact, the average income of the top 10% of the United States population is roughly nine times greater than the average income of the poorest 10% of the population (OECD). This widening wealth gap is a problem of extreme importance and failure to recognize it may lead to social problems such as a rise in crime and overall social unrest. A continuing rise in this wealth gap affects all U.S. citizens as the bottom 99% may lose opportunities in education and be exposed to more crime, and the top 1% may lose consumers as no one will be able to afford their products. Furthermore, due to this rising gap, ordinary children of the masses, who are from the bottom 40%, are being denied to educational opportunities because they cost more money (Ingraham). Regardless if a child is born into a wealthy or poor family, they are still born with the same attributes; however, it is income inequality that creates inequality in educational opportunities for children, which threatens the overall educational status quo of the nation. A major wealth gap in any society is strongly associated with significant problems such as greater poverty levels, more crime, and even poor conditions of health (Partridge and Weinstein).

Robert Reich explained to us, "Income inequality is inevitable and is essence of capitalism, but when the gap became too much, then it became a problem to the society. Today, the United States has the most inequality distribution of income of all the developed nation, the richest 400 Americans had more wealth than the bottom 150 million people put together"2. First of all, income inequality exist everywhere, it is not a problem for itself. Because of the income inequality, poor people know the life difference between people, then they will work harder and harder to catch up to get rid of poor, and to have a better life. The income inequality is a good thing when it is not much for is the source of power that make people to improve themselves.

I wanted to emphasize that each country is affected by poverty somewhat differently, with different means of handling their poverty problems. In developing countries poverty is the rule, not the exception and without the aid from developed nations, these countries are stuck in a poverty trap.

Poverty and inequality have created a wider gap of wealth between the poor and rich, difficulty to move social classes, and unequal rights for the poor. This is something the U.S. needs to think about how it should be solved. The Economist does admit that the U.S government did something to avoid this problem. The article states “the government wanted to show the similarity between the rise of inequality in the 20th century to today” (The Economist, p.4).

The poverty trap is the cycle of poverty that can begin from a limited diet and progress to birthing a baby that is malnourished. This causes the baby to have slower development and poor

Poverty is still a worldwide problem in the 21st century, which urgently needs to be tackled. As one of the rapidly growing and influential nations in the international society, it is significant to look into the poverty alleviation programs of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as China) as well as how Chinese institutional factors affect income inequality. Since the world’s economy is highly dependent upon China, it is important and timely to examine what problems and solutions China has in terms of poverty reduction and income disparity between the urban and rural areas.