Income Inequality Essay

Inequality exists around us. One of the inequalities is the income received by a person or member of a family. This income includes wages, salaries, pensions, and interest derived from assets. Income inequality refers to the various income within a given population. This inequality is especially high in the United States.

Think about your goals that would lead you to your definition of the American Dream. Would you let economic differences ruin your dream, or work harder? The American Dream would be considered reaching your ultimate goal and having a stable life and job to provide for oneself and their family. Most people in our country think that the main reason why the American Dream is dying is because of income inequality. Income inequality can play a huge role in why people’s financial situations have a toll on their goals.

The American Dream is the national ethos that people’s lives would better and more abundant with many opportunities. Although the “American Dream” is still possible, many minorities, a vast portion of people in middle class, are affected by the lack of social mobility see the realization of the American Dream because of the advantages upper class have like being more wealthy. With money, the upper class can affordable anything they like high tier education in privates or better health insurance. This is a problem because not everyone in the world have the same chance to succeed. In “ LA’s Crisis: High rents, low pay, homelessness rising, and $2000 doesn’t buy much” by Steve Lopez and “Class in America -2012” by Gregory Mantsios share how the lack of mobility affects many individuals in the world. In conclusion, low income individuals are suffering within our society because of

Income Inequality in the United States has been a problem for decades. Since the year 1913 the gap in income inequality between the rich and poor in the U.S. has widened and has been a hot topic for debate. The rich keep getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Thomas Pogge a German philosopher and a professor at Yale University argue that we live in a world where income and wealth are very unevenly distributed throughout society, thus leading to widespread poverty. Amartya Sen an Indian economist and philosopher of Bengali ethnicity argues that really freedoms should be both the ends and means of human development. Robert Reich a professor at Berkeley University and former secretary of labor under Bill Clinton, makes an fluent and impassioned

The American Dream is the idea that every American should have equal opportunities to achieve success and happiness through hard work, determination and initiative. The American dream is based on the opportunity for success, the capacity to rise to a higher social or economic status, and prosperity earned through hard work. Nowadays, our interpretation of the American Dream includes the opportunity to pursue a career without artificial barriers, opportunity for home ownership, opportunity for one’s children to receive a good education and opportunity without restrictions limited to a person’s socioeconomic class, religion, race, or ethnicity. Today, it is commonly believed that under capitalism, the ideals of the American Dream are fully met. Why, then, is there such a wide divide between the rich and the poor in America? Between men and women? Capitalism may have once stood for equality and prosperity for all, but unfortunately the sentiment no longer applies in our society today. There are serious shortcomings that exist in our system that are widely overlooked and even ignored.

claims, “The American Dream, however, is based on perception, on the way someone imagines how to be successful.” The majority of King’s article is focused on the middle class, so it is agreeable to assume that is who he is referring to here. The middle class, however imaginative they may be, are not impervious to social norms and trends and there are many forces outside their control that make the American Dream impossible to attain for them. In Robert H. Frank’s article Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore, he focuses largely on “expenditure cascades” in which, “The rich have been spending more money simply because they have so much extra money. Their Spending shifts the frame of reference that shapes the demands of those just below them, who travel in overlapping social circles.” As one expects from the word “cascades” this trend of spending more to essentially “fit in” eventually makes its way down to the middle class. As the social norm for the standard of living get more luxurious, the middle-class people of America begin to perceive that they are living below their class because they cannot afford to live so lavishly. This trend of “expenditure cascades” can easily be tracked though the releases of new smart phones, namely, i-Phones. Almost every year there is a new version of the i-Phone that is released and, since it is one of the most

When arguments arise in the United States (US) about healthcare systems, the common rebuttal in opposition to a state-run universal healthcare system usually goes something like, “If universal healthcare is so great, then why do so many people from Canada come here [United States] for treatment?” Although this seems like a logical rebuttal, it really misses the point. Firstly, the belief that an abundance of Canadians flee to the US for healthcare purposes is largely a myth (Katz, Cardiff, Pascali, Barer, & Evans, 2002). Secondly, people from all over come to the US for healthcare due to some of the best hospitals in the world (Katz et al., 2002). After all, the US does spend the most per person on healthcare in the world, it makes sense that

Certainly, the American Dream represents the flawless ideal for all people who constantly and honestly work to achieve their personal and family goals, because it constitutes opportunity, health, education, jobs, housing, among others. Nonetheless, in our nation, the shocking disparity between rich and poor, and how this imbalance continues to affect the financial future of the country, are challenges that nobody can ignore, but that unfortunately, no one can overcome by themselves. The gap has dangerously widened in all areas, and, what we can do ─ in the silence of our hopeless souls ─ is to cautiously wait until the nightmare

Income inequality has affected American citizens ever since the American Dream came to existence. The American Dream is centered around the concept of working hard and earning enough money to support a family, own a home, send children to college, and invest for retirement. Economic gains in income are one of the only possible ways to achieve enough wealth to fulfill the dream. Unfortunately, many people cannot achieve this dream due to low income. Income inequality refers to the uneven distribution of income and wealth between the social classes of American citizens. The United States has often experienced a rise in inequality as the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, increasing the unstable gap between the two classes. The

If the American Dream no longer exists in the middle class, then the American Dream no longer exists at all. Therefore the population of the middle class has a detrimental effect on the American Dream. A lot of the ideals of the American Dream are rooted in one’s personal desire to succeed. It is often viewed that the American Dream filters out as one rises up the societal ranks. When America was mainly a working or lower class society the American Dream was alive and well. However now, with “roughly 90% of Americans self-identify as upper-middle or lower-middle class” the American dream is deteriorating (Meacham). With such a high percentage of citizens identifying as middle class it shows that many are comfortable with what they have and their stance in life, which therefore decreases the determination to work hard in order to achieve. Which in turn dissolves the American Dream. It has often been said that “middle-class families are defined by their aspirations more than their income” (Meacham). This can be contributed to the high percentage of the self-identified middle class in America. However when one looks at the incomes it is hard to believe that the number of middle class Americans is so

Recently, studies have shown that income inequality has many connections that have caused the gap in the United States. According to the research I found, income inequality is connected to corruption, trade, wages of workers, and education. The world income inequality had declined since the twentieth century according to the studies found (Clark). Corruption falls increasing on low income individuals more than higher income individuals. Additionally, the trade theory suggests that the free trade might have level up the income inequality higher within countries by the different patterns of wages and demand for workers who are skilled and unskilled (Silva and Leichenko). Moreover, the education of wealthier people has it easier because the

In James Truslow Adams’ book, The Epic of America, he coined the term American dream and described it as "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be... recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." This is what most Americans believe it to be and want their life to be like, but it’s almost economically impossible because there is little to no economic mobility in America. The most common belief is that through hard work, anybody can make it to the top, but according to this study, America has one of the worst levels of economic mobility in the world. Corak stated, “Among the major developed countries, only in Italy and the United Kingdom is there less economic mobility.” According to Corak’s studies, there is a 47% chance that you will be stuck in the same class as your parents. Class will always be correlated with one’s upbringing and early life, which would shape them into who they are today. Naturally, it’s not very easy to switch social classes, so the false reality of the American Dream has fooled many people into thinking they can achieve anything they work hard at, when really, it will never

Universal basic income, (UBI), has become one our leading topics for a solution towards socioeconomic inequality. Billionaires such as Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, have advanced the idea of going through with UBI (Kaza, 2018). UBI tackles many diversity challenges our society seriously needs solutions too. However, due to the enormity of UBI, it’s important to evaluate our decision to go forward; not only finically but ethically. For governments to implement a UBI, it would take a major overhaul of their welfare and tax systems. For example, the United States would need to spend over 3 trillion dollars a year just to provide a yearly distribution of $12,000 for each person over 18. This does not include illegal immigrants or the cost of running the program. I will evaluate the potential effects and ethics of UBI on minority groups in three areas: gender inequality, social conflict and the effects of automation on the work force.

Without doubts, income inequality influence on wellbeing of individuals and standards of living. The problem of economic inequality has been the spotlight for long decades. It is believed that study of income inequality is very important because it may significantly affect on human’s welfare but also at some degree it can touch economic issues. To begin with, this essay will explain the meaning of income inequality in society. After that, different ways of measurement, such as Lorenz curve and Gini coefficient, will be pointed out in this project. Moreover, the statistics of income inequality in the developed country, as UK, was included. In the second part of this coursework, the possible economic consequences of an increase in income inequality

Imagine that you and your next door neighbor were going to run a foot race. Then, your neighbor's friend holds you stationery until your neighbor has completed a great portion of the race. Finally, your neighbor's friend releases you so that you may complete in the race. Sprinting vigorously and freely, it would be nearly impossible to win. Could you win or at minimum, could you be any type of competition? This analogy is equivalent to the governmental position taken in the 1960's particularly 1968—the year that the Civil Right's Act was enacted. But, why mention the Civil Right's Act, everyone is equal now right? Wrong! The act was a success on paper, but failed to do the most important thing, and that is to give people in poverty