Income Inequality In America

“The United States income inequality has risen drastically since the 1970’s and has not been this high since 1928.” Economic inequality is the unequal differences in how assets, wealth, and income are dispersed among the people and different populations throughout the United States. It is often described as the gap between the rich and the poor.

Vermont Senator and presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, said it best when he said “A nation will not serve morally or economically when so few have so much, and so many have so little.” This quote perfectly describes the issue that The United States is currently dealing with: income inequality. Income inequality is the gap between how much money is made by the rich and everyone else in the nation. It also refers to the unequal distribution of wealth among people in a population. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the gross domestic product (GDP) in the United States has steadily been rising, making it seem as though economic growth is stable (Inequality for All). However, it does not take into account the increasingly widening gap between the 1% and the 99% of the nation’s population. Government officials should pay closer attention to income inequality in The United States because ignoring the issue ultimately hurts American citizens.

What is Income Inequality? Well “Income Inequality is the unequal distribution” of family or individual wage over the different individuals in an economy. Income inequality is often showen up “as the percentage of income to a percentage of population” (Staff.) Income inequality creates and impacts the U.S. in different aspects, whether it is distinguished by “region, gender, education and social status” (Staff), as well as there are certain causes and potential solutions to resolve the problems that Income Inequality creates.

The highest earning fifth of U.S. families earned 59.1% of all income, while the richest earned 88.9% of all wealth. A big gap between the rich and poor is often associated with low social mobility, which contradicts the American ideal of equal opportunity. Levels of income inequality are higher than they have been in almost a century, the top one percent has a share of the national income of over 20 percent (Wilhelm). There are a variety of factors that influence income inequality, a few of which will be discussed in this paper. Rising income inequality is caused by differences in life expectancy, rapidly increases in the incomes of the top 5 percent, social trends, and shifts in the global economy.

There is an income gap among American workers that prevents the economy from growing and divides the country based on how much money they make. In 2012, a person or household earning over $392,000 a year was considered to be in the nation’s top 1 percent of earners (Stewart). Equal opportunity motivates people to work hard to earn a lot of money. As a result, a gap between the rich and the average worker formed. This gap has continued to grow over the past three decades. Right now the income gap is the largest it has been in the past 100 years. The country’s richest 400 people, determined by Forbes Magazine, have a larger combined income than the bottom 60 percent of America (Kertscher). The income gap only allows those with a high income

At the root of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ highly touted (and shouted) policies, from free college to an increase in the minimum wage, is the issue of inequality in America. Perhaps it’s no surprise that Sanders has seen great success on his message of fixing inequality in the United States, the gap between the wealthy and poor has been growing at an alarming rate. The focus tends to be on income inequality rather than wealth inequality. According to Google Trends, searches for “Income Inequality” significantly outnumber searches for “Wealth Inequality”, and have consistently done so since 2004 (Web Search Interests). Despite this, wealth inequality is a far greater problem than income inequality. Income inequality

One of the largest social issues in America today is income and wealth inequality. Income inequality is when income is distributed unevenly amongst a population and consists of wages, salaries, interest on a savings account, dividends from shares of stock, rent, and profits from selling something for more than you paid for it (Mendelson). Wealth inequality is the unequal distribution of assets within a population. A person’s wealth is attributed to what a person owns which can include their residence, cash in savings accounts, investments in stocks and bonds, real estate, and retirement accounts (Aaron). Those who are unaffected typically brush off income and wealth inequality as none important. They view those who complain about barely making it by, as lazy and in their position of poverty by

Income inequality in the United States has risen significantly. Today, Income inequality is at its’ widest point since the 1970s (CSNBC). Income inequality refers to the extent to which income is distributed in an uneven manner among a population (website).

In an economy, income inequality means the unequal distribution of household or individual income over many participants. It is also often presented as a percentage of income for a given percentage of the population. Most people associated income inequality with the concept of income fairness. Assuming that the rich have a larger share of the income of a country than the population in general, then they acknowledge it unfair. What causes the income inequality might be vary? It could be region, education, sex as well as social status. Income is the amount of money you earn from your job or investment. However, wealth is the amount you own, such as car, home, retirement amount, saving accounts, and so on. Even though, we are not living in the

“A Nation will not serve morally or economically when so few have so much while so many people have so much little” -Bernie Sanders. Income Inequality has started in 1915 and has gotten worse ever since. Some people say it is good, and others say it is bad. But Income inequality is bad. Income inequality is still a problem in America, but there are ways to fight against it.

For many years wealth and income inequalities in America have progressively gotten worse. The recession in 2007 did not help to reduce the gap. Wealth is determined by everything a person owns and income is determined by how much a person makes at their job. The better job a person has the more income they have and this increases their overall wealth. Wealth and income inequality can be reduced by lowering the cost of higher education, implementing a progressive tax, working with one another to end the stigma of the color of ones skin, and by putting an end to the gender wage gap.

The unequal income between the rich and the poor is hard to visualize, so let me break it down for you. The distribution of pay from employers to employees has a big impact on the society we live in. Glassdoor.com said that “…a CEO’s salary is 204 percent more than the average employee” (Chamberlain, Dr. et al.). There is evidence provided by a company called The Ruben Report that shows in a video that “…between 2003 through 2013 the average household income dropped 36 percent, but the top 5 percent of the rich rose 14 percent” ("Startling Fact About Income Inequality in America - Bing Video"). We might ask ourselves how did the top 5 percent of the rich

In developed nations income inequality has also drastically increased. For instance just recently in the United States, the richest americans (the top 1%) made 19.3% of all the United States income, which is the most drastic income gap since the twenties. “The top 1 percent of U.S. earners collected 19.3 percent of household income in 2012, their largest share in Internal Revenue Service figures going back a century” (Paul Wiseman). Both developed and developing nations are having major issues dealing with income

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

Inequality For All discussed how the United States has the most uneven distribution of income. The peak year that has the greatest income concentration is between 1928 through 2007. Middle class people are the ones who are struggling the most. An interesting fact that I didn’t know was that the average American worker in 1978 was earning around $48,302; whereas, the average person in the top 1% was earning $393,682. The economy today compared to the year 1978 has drastically decreased. In 2010 the typical American worker was earning $33,751, which means that the gross income was less than then before. However, while the middle class workers suffered, the top 1% was earning twice as much. Instead of the United States having an equal distribution