Increased Income Inequality Since 1970

James Madison once stated inequality of the rich and poor predicament to be “evil” and believed that the government should avoid an “immoderate, and especially unmerited, accumulation of riches” (Johnston, 2016). As one of the founding fathers of our nation, James Madison had a concern about the separation between the rich and the poor. He felt the government should do what it could to avoid the separation, which one can infer that he meant for the government to tax the rich by a greater percentage, thus reducing the financial burden on the poor. A rift has always been present between the rich and the poor throughout history. Depending upon the job, the working class may or may not make enough to support a family. At this point, the

A cause of income inequality could be the jobs that people have. “In the United States, income inequality, or the gap between the rich and everyone else, has been growing markedly… (Income Inequality, para 1).” There have been no signs of income inequality changing for the lower classes, or getting better, therefore, it has become a very concerned issue upon Americans. “America’s top ten percent now average at least nine times as much income as the bottom 90 percent (Income Inequality, para 2).” Many people who have a big dream have jobs that pay minimum wage, which makes it hard. With the rich getting richer, it makes it hard for the lower classes to get a shot at being at the top with them. This also makes it hard to close the gap between the three classes.

In Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore, Robert H. Frank paints a picture to the reader about the struggles of pier pressure. For example: an upper-classmen chooses to buy a big house and fancy clothing. This acts as a “frame of reference” to the changes and norms of the society. If he spends money on something nice, a middle-classmen will then go and decide to do the same thing, and then a lower-classmen…all the way down the social hierarchy. This is what he calls an “expenditure cascade.” Robert relates this with a person’s downfalls, which can be traced due to lower income inequality. Income inequality basically means that in a given quantity, the dispersion of income is underlined by the gap between individuals and or households with

Amongst all of the presidential candidates of the 2016 race, one in particular stands above the rest. Bernie Sanders, running as a democrat, holds the highest capability to better the nation amongst all other candidates.

Today in America, income and wealth inequality has continued to grow at an unsettling pace. The rich continue to get richer, while the number of people categorized as lower class grows exponentially. As Joseph Stiglitz has explained, many theories that are seen as strongly Republican, such as the trickle-down effect, has caused the rich to take money from the poor, and as a result the lower class grows and the middle class disintegrates. The top 1 percent of America’s households currently holds 30 percent of America’s economy, which is much more than other first-world countries and helps to emphasize the extremity of inequality currently in America today. This increased inequality has in turn caused America to become a much more divided society; those born in poverty typically stay in poverty, with little to no chance of self-improvement due to a lack of education provided in their areas. In contrast, those that are born wealthy typically go to better schools, have better health care, and are all but spoon fed information on how to remain wealthy. These two sides of society almost never cross, and this causes the country to be more divided than ever. In order to limit this inequality, drastic changes must be made, such as large corporations paying their fair share of taxes and giving back to the lower class, and minimum wage should be raised. If everyone in America works together, we can raise social mobility and re-unite what has become an increasingly divided country.

This can be attributed to the depression that took place in these years. The 1929 October stock market crash instigated a long economic downturn that led to the depression whereby millions of Americans became unemployed, industrial production declined to about a third of its level in 1929, and national income went down by more than half. The 1930s marked a new era in politics. The social democratic order that is similar to that of Western European nations arose during this period. Under President Roosevelt, the federal government experienced a wide expansion in its authority, particularly over the economy. Roosevelt focused on saving capitalism and not supplanting it. Thus, making this difficult time for Americans a little easier to

A deafening and persistent roar reverberates against the glass walls, around the stone columns and through the rows of American flags, which billow above the financial hub of the United States. A sea of tens of thousands of American citizens begins below the iconic black and white sign that reads “Wall St”, and extends beyond the end of the block, filling each and every square inch of space in-between. Over and over again, in unison, they chant “We are the ninety-nine percent!” and collectively form a voice that is heard not just throughout the stock exchange, or the city of New York, but throughout the entire country and the world. Occupy Wall Street was a movement that brought together members of the “99%” — the bottom ninety-nine

In any given population, there is a difference between what people within the population earn. The uneven distribution of income in any given population is income inequality. In order for there to be income, there has to be several sources of income. These sources of income may be combinational or independent per person receiving the income. Income may result from wages, rent, bank account interests, salaries or even profits made in business transactions ( Stiglitz, 2012).

In the documentary “Inequality for All” examines widening income inequality in the United States. It talk about the rich took over the Federal Reserve Bank and they change the rules. In 1971, President Ronald Reagan took America off the gold standard. Once he did that Federal Reserve and the treasury was allow to print uncontrollable in the world. The crisis today is U.S dollar value is going down. Residual income is income that continues to be generated after the initial effort has been expended. See most Americans work an hour to get pay an hour. If they work an hour then they a get pay an hour. But if they do not work an hour then they do not get pay. Wealthy know that is a prison. You cannot get rich by exchanging time for money. You must

One of the reasons is because many companies were replacing employees with machines. Federal tax and spending policies in the 1980s widened the gap of the rich and poor. One drawback of deindustrialization was that it decreased the minimum wage and it pushed women who were originally housewives into the workforce. At this point, citizens were not expected to surpass their parents' standard of living. Although the economy were creating new jobs, the poverty rate was still rising because half of those jobs were paying less than minimum wage.

Superior authorities that are discriminatory and unequal to others because of ones status have shaped our society to the way it is now. To this day we still encounter income inequalities in the United States. Social inequality gap between who can afford the healthcare. Superior people who are in charge don’t make it easy for low-income families to afford healthcare. Minority groups hold far fewer net financial assets than whites. We are categorized in groups, upper class, middle class and lower class. When health is a service, the poor are more likely to experience illness caused by poor diet, to live and work in unhealthy environments, and are less likely to challenge the system. In the United States, a disproportionate number of racial minorities

In response to the article, some the information was new but a lot of it not surprising.  It was surprising, however, to read that although Mr. Naets is somewhat more educated and most likely in a higher tax bracket than his parents were, his standard of living is a lot lower than that of his parents.  That is alarming only because we have a lot more opportunities available to us through networking or technology and on a scale that was never available to our parents. Also in Mr. Naets case, he and his wife earn well above the national average which is also alarming because you would think that someone in such a position would not be as worried as someone of the opposite spectrum. It is discerning to think that no matter how hard we strive to for a better life, we will always feel that is not enough.

Equality twinkled through in the birth of the civil rights movement. Homogeny was a central point in American life in the 1950's, whether known or not. One may contend that people have a natural preference for their kin, at least at an instinctual level. American immigration policy reflected this on non-European nations, excluding Russia. Americans feared migrants would change the present culture, supplanting the population. This revolution ignites in Brown vs. Board of Education. Overruling Plessy vs. Ferguson, it ended public segregation. African Americans saw "separate but equal" would change, igniting a civil rights movement. For example, the 1957 forced integration of the Little Rock Nine came in the wake of the decision. Nine African-American

The Presidential Lecture "What is the Government Doing about Inequality since the 1970's" was quite interesting to me, but challenging to understand. Peter H. Lindert gave the lecture in a business professional point of view and really singled out those interested in economics. Peter H. Lindert has a Ph.D. and is a distinguished professor of economic in university of California, Davis and has a prize-winning book, Growing Public Social Spending and Economic Growth since the Eighteenth Century (Cambridge University Press 2004). He earned an A.B from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and a Ph.D. from Cornell University (Freetrade Tamiu 2018). In the beginning of his lecture he introduced 4 issues

Income inequality has been a major issue in American history. There are many different factors that contribute to inequality. These include education, wealth, discrimination, ability, and monopoly power.