Minimum Income Inequality

Change is inevitable under any circumstance, and San Francisco County (SFC), which consists of only the city itself, has seen some major changes in the area of income. Over the past four decades, the Bay Area censuses have calculated the per capita income and median family income which have both only increased in San Francisco (SF). This rise in income is usually a positive sign of a growing middle class, but in SFC, it is a sign of growing income inequality. While the entire Bay Area economy booms, the wealth being generated in SFC is landing in the hands of a select group of elites, widening the gap between the rich and the poor and making the middle class smaller. The SF government has even tried to appease this by raising the minimum wage to create a more liveable income for those residing at the bottom. But even with a raise in the minimum wage in SFC, income inequality continues to grow between the rich and poor as the rich continue to experience exponential economic gain, and the middle class continues to decrease in size.

“The United States is a nation where people are supposed to be able to rise above their origins. Those who want to succeed, it is believed, can do so through hard work and solid effort.” (Andersen, pg 1) If this was only true we would live in a world in which we would all prosper based on how hard we work. The truth of the matter is that income inequality and institutional classism were simply built into the sheer fabric of this nation. Income inequality has affected many in the United States. For many the American Dream is simply that a dream.

In summary rather than a minimum wage we should create a system where if you have a husband/wife/kids you get paid more than someone who doesn’t. This would hopefully get rid of the inequality in the U.S. thus allowing everyone to afford “good” food forcing farmers to stop putting chemicals in their products because of the low demand. Also I believe giving people an incentive to begin growing their own food would also help our environment greatly some examples of incentives for growing your own food tax reductions, you could sell your food to help fund your garden.

Executive Compensation. I’m in agreement with Thomas Piketty that the one cause of rising inequality in the United States “the rise of supersalaries” for top executives (Piketty & Goldhammer, 2014, p. 298). The average American estimates CEO to worker pay ratio at about 30-to-1, which is more than 4 times what they believe to be ideal. The career review site Glassdoor reported from 2014 data that the average pay ratio of CEO to median worker was 204-to-1 and that at the top of the list, four CEOs earn more than 1,000 times the salary of their median worker with the very top pay ratio of 1,951-to-1. In some cases a CEO makes in one-hour what it takes the average employee six-months to earn. In comparison, the Washington Post reported for the

The issue of income inequality in the United States is complicated and does not have a definite answer. Income inequality can be measured in a few different ways. The first measurement for the income inequality in a country is to look at the percentages on households and group them into income categories, called distribution by income category. The second measurement for income inequality is called distribution by quintiles or fifths. This is when you divide the total number of people, households, families into five groups called quintiles to examine the percentage of total before tax income received by each quintile. Each quintile would then be ordered by income and households in the category.

In order to correct our economic system’s faults, we must understand that the problem is multifaceted and won’t improve unless addressed as such. This will be rather difficult considering how the U.S’s system is constructed and the range of problems facing us. The problems facing us not only include low wages but inflated prices for higher education, food, necessities, and cars which are technically a luxury but are sometimes needed to obtain and keep a well paying job due to gaps in the public transportation system. Personally, this has affected myself because the private security industry is riddled with jobs/schedules which make taking public transport difficult or sometimes impossible. There are others like myself who then have a more difficult time looking for stable work that’s also accessible on transit.

Over 45 million people liver in poverty in america, while the unemployment figures are are around 8 million. Should someone work full-time and still be within poverty? A minimum wage should be a decent livable wage and more than a bare subsistence. Increasing the minimal wage will fuel the economy, boost worker morale , and Increase the standard of living. The minimum wage must be increased to a livable wage.

Income Inequality is a major problem that has been going on in America for decades. Many people feel that it barely exists today, but those people are very uneducated and don’t really care about the huge problem in front of them the many people that feel that way are highly uneducated, and seem to not really care about which has been gradually increasing instead of decreasing. Unfortunately, there’s not much that can be done, only of course if the poor class of people decide to actually educate themselves and get a higher education. One says poor class, simply because that’s how they’re classified. There are five types of levels that Americans are classified as, and they are: Upper Class, Upper Middle Class, Middle Class, Working Class, Poor. The highest percentage of Americans fall in the Poor department, and it has been that way for decades, and will continue to be that way for decades to come.

Income inequality is increasingly becoming a significant concern for many countries around the world. The income difference between the highly-educated, skilled, wealthy class and the poor, low to mid-skilled workers is growing larger and larger. In fact, the incomes of the rich are increasing significantly, while the low skilled workers’ incomes have been declining (The Economist, “Wealth Without Workers”). According to The Economist, real median wages have been decreasing since 2000 in half of the member countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In the United States, there was a 4% increase from 1980 to 2012 in the share of national income that was distributed to the top 0.01% (The Economist, “True Progressivism”). Canada is facing a similar problem of rising inequality.

Inequality is not favorable in society. There is inequality in many aspects of our society, such as race, and gender. The main inequality we look at is income inequality in the United States. The one percent of the population control a vast majority of the United States currency. The Gini coefficient has been increasing ever since the Industrial Revolution, a period where education, manufacturing, and economics has shown growth. However, income inequality has increased in the Industrial Revolution. There are many events, and causes that have led to the rise of income equality in the United States.

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

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.

One of the social issues concerning power, status, and class in American society today is income inequality. The income gap between the social classes has increased drastically throughout the last few decades, creating a significant gap between the wealthy and the poor. This gap has become so large that the middle class has nearly diminished, creating a social class comprised of the rich and the poor. The significant gap between the two social classes is unhealthy for the economy because it provides too much power in the hands of those with high social status.

Income inequality has been a major concern around the world, and it mainly links to how economic metrics are distributed among individuals in a country. Economists generally categorise these metrics in wealth, income and consumption. Wilkinson and Picket (2009) showed in their studies that inequality has drawbacks that lead to social problems. This is because income inequality and wealth concentration can hinder or delay long term growth. In 2011, International Monetary Fund economists showed that less income inequality increased the duration of countries’ economic growth spells more than free trade, low government corruption, foreign investment or low foreign debt (Berg and Ostry, 2011).

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).