Richer Vs 1800s

In other words, America has a widening gap between its wealthy and poor. As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, there is a problem emerging: the disappearance of the middle class. Low-wage workers continue to fall behind those who make higher wages, and this only widens the gap between the two. There has been an economic boom in the United States, which has made the country more prosperous than it has ever been. That prosperity does not reach all people; it seems to only favor the rich. Rising economic segregation has taken away many opportunities for the poor to rise in America today. The poor may find that the economic boom has increased their income; however, as their income increase so does the prices they must for their living expenses (Dreier, Mollenkopf, & Swanstrom 19).

Furthermore, the equality of opportunities as one of the foundations of the American dream turned into evident inequality. “The lion’s share of economic growth in American over the past thirty years has gone to a small, wealthy minority, to such an extent that it’s unclear whether the typical family has benefited at all from technological progress and the rising productivity it brings” (Krugman 586). Income inequality has been steadily growing since 2008 when the global financial crisis erupted. Moreover, the gap in prosperity between the group of Americans with high income and all the others had never been such extreme as it is now. Thus, not everyone has the opportunity to become wealthy through hard work. The increase in socioeconomic inequalities,

In the book, Poverty and Inequality, it is noted that many people look at the economy and poverty status in the 60s to gauge how to solve poverty today (1997). The sixties saw the longest and strongest economic growth in US history. The unemployment rates went from twenty two percent to thirteen percent. The economy grew 4.3 % every year. This leads many economic analyses to tie the bustling economy with the declining poverty level. The eighties saw two short recessions before the second longest and strongest growth in US history. The unemployment rate went from just over ten percent to just over eight percent. It is important to note that the poverty rate only fell slightly during this period. By 1990, the poverty rate

In 1879 Henry George wrote an article titled “Progress and Poverty”. In this article he discussed the ongoing industry and he stated that “the wealthy class is becoming more wealthy; but the poorer class is becoming more dependent.

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.

In the early 19th century, over 90 percent of the world was living in absolute poverty. Today that figure is 14 percent. From just 1981 to 2011, the poverty rate decreased by 67 percent. Half of those living in the poorer nations of the world three decades ago were living in extreme poverty. By 2012, that number had fallen to 21 percent. In the last two

The gap between the upper class and the lower class is growing; the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Instead of helping the lower class, the upper class is spending their money on fancy houses and material objects. For example, in the outskirts of cities, the rich business owners are building large mansions to live in. On the other hand, the lower class live in tiny tenements in the heart of the city. Many are unemployed and starving. In addition, between 1865 and 1900 only a small percent of Americans grew wealthy showing that wealth is only being passed through families not gained. However this growing gap between rich and poor has allowed the growth of the middle class. This middle class made up of doctors, lawyers and other will help the will hopefully help lessen the gap between

In a research of Harvard professor 5000 people in America have opinion in how they think about the actual distribution of wealth in the U.S. and the 92 percent choose the ideal would be 20 percent and 20 percent the middle class. However, the reality is very far from it. “The poorest are not even registered, they are on the package change and the middle class is barely distinguished from the poor, even the rich between the 10 % and 20 % are worst off, only the top 10 % are better off. Only the one percent gets ten time higher and 40 % all the nation wealth. The bottom 80 % 8 out 10 people only has 7 % between them.1 % makes a quarter of the national income today”(you tube, 2015). All of this data reflex one of the truly perspectives in economy of the U.S. Not only people with low wages are the most affected, but also those who have good jobs and

The continuous disparity of wealth and income can cause constant economic problems within a society. Although it is not apparent all the time, there are few benefits of discrepancy itself such as individual wealth, capital, and labor. Both Smith and Carnegie have distinct beliefs about wealth that differentiate from one another, yet are similar in certain ways. Adam Smith confined all his ideas about the common man in his “Wealth of Nations”. Whereas, in the “Gospel of Wealth,” Andrew Carnegie had distinct beliefs about the effects of capitalism . All in all, economic conditions of the 21st century still date back to previous years and signify the importance of economic competition.

While numbers and statistics may change, poverty itself does not. It has been around for as long as one can remember and will be here for many more to come.

From 1860- 1900, the wealthiest 2% of American households owned more than a third of the nations money. But the top 10% owned almost the other three fourths. According to Howard Zinn, the wealth gap started issues of working and living conditions for the working class. There was hope though, from 1870 to 1880 the average annual incomes rose $20, from 1870-1900, there was a gain of 53%! In a recent poll in 2007, the top 1% is earning roughly 24% of all the income. This shows an upward trend that is probably still going on today in 2015. In 2008, during the recovery time of the recession US had, the distribution of money was really thrown off but then as the economy got better, so did the amount the top 1% received. It rose consistently 5 years in a row which each time it increases, it widens the wealth gap. According to a study done by the American Sociological Review, the effects on the other end of the classes have been struggling and businesses are now figuring that they have a higher level of immigrated, less educated employees. Also for all parents, they see that the amount that earn and die with is going to show the progression of their offspring and how they are going to do. Most of the richest people of the world all have something to do with electronics and some technological

Americans today live in a distinctly unequal society. Inequality is now wider than it used to be in the last century, and the division in income, wages, and wealth are broader than they are in other developed economies of the world. Wealth inequality is the imbalance of wealth or income within a society, and it is one of the most vital economic challenge the US is facing today because the distribution of wealth is more dispersed, making the inequality in wealth distribution at its highest. While the matter has been discussed for many years, the actual income disparity in the U.S. has heightened and is now verging on an extreme gap that portends to impede long-term economic growth. The huge gap between the wealthy and poor is squeezing the U.S. economy, the wealth gap threatens economic growth by diminishing social mobility and producing a less-educated workforce who are not able to compete in the global economy. unrestrained level of income inequality causes political pressures, it discourages trade, investment, and hiring. The present level of income inequality in the U.S. is shrinking GDP growth, and the world's largest economy is struggling to recover from the Great Recession.

America is recognized as a place where if you work hard enough you can become wealthy. In fact, the U.S. has more millionaires than any other country in the world. However, for all that prosperity, the gap between rich and poor has always been large. People have been attempting to fix this inequality for over a century now. Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish immigrant who became the second richest man in America by dominating the steel industry, and Terence V. Powderly, an American attorney, labor union leader, politician, and best known as head of the Knights of Labor, were among the first to propose solutions. Carnegie’s idea, called “The Gospel of Wealth,”

In the United States, high standard of living is not equally shared with in the Americans. The 1970s and 1990s was period where economic inequality began to grow. Emmanuel Saez, an economics professor at UC Berkeley has been doing a research for the U.S. income inequality. He states that there has been an increase since the 1970s, and has reached levels that have not been seen since 1928. “In 1928, the top 1% of families received 23.9% of all pretax income, while the bottom 90% received 50.7%. But the Depression and World War II dramatically reshaped the nation’s income distribution, by 1944 the top 1%’s share was down to 11.3%, while the bottom 90% were receiving 67.5%, levels that would remain more or less constant for the next three decades. But starting in the mid- to late 1970s, the uppermost percent income share began rising dramatically, while that of the bottom 90% started to fall.”(DeSilver) Ever since then, economic inequality continues to increase, especially in the last three decades.

What makes these numbers seem so dreadful is the fact that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. In the United States, it’s estimated that 20% of the population holds 80% of the wealth. We can break these figures down further, and note that the bottom 40% of all households have only 1% of all the