Summary Of Confronting Inequality

In Rousseau’s book “A Discourse On Inequality”, he looks into the question of where the general inequality amongst men came from. Inequality exists economically, structurally, amongst different generations, genders, races, and in almost all other areas of society. However, Rousseau considers that there are really two categories of inequality. The first is called Natural/Physical, it occurs as an affect of nature. It includes inequalities of age,, health, bodily strength, and the qualities of the mind and soul. The second may be called Moral/Political inequality, this basically occurs through the consent of men. This consists of the privileges one group may have over another, such as the rich over the

During the past couple of decades, the decline in the middle class has been associated to the political agenda of the Republican Party. By ending governmental subsidies and other programs created to build the middle class, has ultimately ceased the growth. However, realizing the importance of the middle class to our fragile economic platform, the Democratic and Independent political parties are desperately trying to create and revamp the middle class

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).

In Edward McClelland’s essay “RIP, the Middle Class: 1946-2013,” McClelland discusses to his audience that the middle class is slowly vanishing and soon enough we will only be left with the rich and the poor. Throughout the essay, McClelland uses various examples to demonstrate how the middle class will no longer exist. McClelland talks about how education is vital for pursuing a job at a reasonable pay that a person can live off of. Before, people were able to leave high school and go straight into a job with a pay that could support them. Nowadays, the same jobs that were supporting people before require a lot more education and still aren’t giving enough money that will allow them to live comfortably. Even though there are still jobs people can thrive at that will make more money without a serious education , the middle class is struggling to make it economically, because it is harder to find a job without education and financially it’s harder to make ends meet.

In “Confronting Inequality” by Paul Krugman he tries to show how inquailty in the united states has been getting worse and how it s affecting the united states. He provides many reason to why iniquility is the way it s and how he belives it can be helped. He also states the positive effects in helping the inquility in the united states will have.

Paul Krugman, author of “The Death of Horatio Alger,” evaluates the declining social mobility in America. He proposes that the decline in social mobility is causing the rich to continue to get richer and the poor to continue to get poorer. Krugman was inspired to discuss how this would result in the shocking loss of the American Dream, after he read a Business Week article that made him fearful of the considerable and drastic decline that would destroy the livelihood of many Americans. Krugman’s purpose was to make his audience; those of lower socioeconomic status, aware that the American Dream they hoped to achieve would soon become extinct. He creates a fearful and negative tone, in order to grab his audience's attention and inform them about the economic downfall. Krugman strongly conveys his message not only through his harsh tone, but by appealing to pathos, incorporating rhetorical questions that create a fearful mood, and appealing to logos to make a credible and sound argument.

In his article "Confronting Inequality" Paul Krugman is asserting the fact of high socioeconomic inequality in the United States, while demonstrating its consequences and the variety of statistic evidences upon it. He is depicting modern American society where we have a huge gap between economic elite and lower-and middle-income classes. There is a time for ''a Great Moderation" reforms that will bring a socioeconomic equality.

In the essays “The American Dream: Dead, Alive, or on Hold?” by Brandon King and “Confronting Inequality” by Paul Krugman, the authors discuss a wide variety of ideas that affect or maintain the idea of income inequality in America today. In the essay by Brandon King, he clearly states that the values of the American Dream are still alive today, but are getting harder and harder to achieve for the average person. King argues that the American Dream of today has drastically changed from what it used to be, and that the thought of being successful only lays within having a steady life with little to no struggle. However, in “Confronting Inequality”, Krugman has a different approach on the topic, arguing that the American Dream is no longer alive. Krugman states that the rise of income inequality will also lead heavily to social inequality, and that the rise of income inequality is a huge cause of social inequality as well. The two authors use a majority of viewpoints and methods to explore the same topic of inequality. However, there are also many ways in which both authors offer different sides of the argument and how it should be handled.

There are certain people who think we create our own destiny in life. They believe that we are born as equals, and we shape and mold our future based upon our choices. Then, there are others who believe our destiny is predetermined before we are even born. They think that greatness or failure is beyond our grasp, that the life of a human is like a roadmap, and every destination is marked for our arrival. As much as I’d like to believe that everyone starts life with a clean slate, his or her chances of success as equal as everyone else’s, I don’t think there is true equality at birth. Children are born into impoverished families, who require their kids to stay home and work rather than get an education. There are kids who are born into families of abuse, neglect, and harsh words. In society, we do not begin life as equals. “Beyond the Beautiful Forevers” by Katherine Boo discusses inequality throughout the entire story. Weather it is Fatima the one leg, women, or the poor trash collectors of the slums, Katherine provides rich insight into a society that is riddled with corruption, where nothing is equivalent at all. By showing how people are born unequal, Katherine reveals the true theme of the book; inequality throughout society.

“One reason to care about inequality is the straightforward matter of living standards. The lions share of the economic growth in America over the past thirty years has gone to a small, wealthy minority…”(Krugman 586).

The largest group in America is facing extinction. We are talking of course about the American middle class. In 1971 the American middle class population was 36% higher than the population of the lower class. However, today the middle class population is now only 22% higher than the lower class (McDill). This is only a 14% drop spread over 44 years. The major issue here is that while the middle class shrinks, the upper and lower classes are growing. Financial experts believe that soon the middle class will become nonexistent and America will be divided into two extremes, poverty and wealth. This issue has become so severe that the United States government has stepped in and created a “middle class task force” passed as part of the

In Robert Reich documentary “Inequality for All” he makes a compelling discussion about the serious crises that the United States faces due the widening economic gap. He looks to raise awareness of the U.S. economic gap between the rich and poor. According to Reich the widening divide in America is real and growing. Income levels at the middle and labor class is stagnant and are at it’s lowest levels compared to upper class incomes since the beginning of WWII and is growing wider each year. Reich suggests that the economy runs more smoothly when the middle class has jobs with fair wages, when unions are strong, and when middle class workers have some extra money to spend if possible when the government uses the tax policy properly and when it raises the minimum wage regularly to control the income gap between labor and management. In other words Reich argues that economically healthy middle and labor class equality is the foundation of a thriving economy and is necessary to maintaining a sound national infrastructure and educational system within

This “middle-class nation” is struggling to support all those who live in its borders and the misconceptions about wealth are vastly overrated. Furthermore, the idea of wealth and stability is incorrect, and there is a very sharp contrast between the rich and poor in the country. As the richest twenty percent of American hold ninety percent of the total household of the total household wealth in the country, those at the bottom have managed very poorly and suffer to get through the days.

Over the past few decades, the “American Dream” vision has been quickly vanishing as a result of the increasing troubles and weakening of the middle class. It has lost the view of being the most successful and wealthy middle class in the world, while the middle classes in other countries are excelling in earning higher middle and lower class incomes. The issue of the declining wealth of the middle class explains a huge problem in the United States’ future prosperity and well being for the citizens and the country. There are many issues that affect the success of the middle and lower classes, such as structural differences in the economy, culture, and government. The gap between the middle and high classes is increasing specifically. The United States has the image of giving people life and prosperity, but inequality is increasing significantly due to issues in education, decrease in taxation among the upper class, and decrease of middle class power in the democracy, while other ideas and mechanisms can be take from other nations.

Another difference of opinion could be that Tessie reveals a great deal of inequality within this scene, that this scene reveals a great amount of gender inequality in society. For example, the lottery reinforces gender oppression as it is men such as Mr. Summer, who operates the lottery. Tessie is the one who dies because of the lottery yet has little agency over in the community 's affairs. Furthermore, since it is Bill who pulls the slip of paper from the box, the narrative is reinforcing the notion of gender inequality found within religion. In fact, Tessie acknowledges this paradox of her predicament as that she yells “You didn 't give him time enough to take any paper he wanted. I saw you. It wasn 't fair!” (text). It is at this moment that Tessie is acknowledging the duality of the lottery. Tessie is placing the blame of her results upon her husband 's inability to “pull” an arbitrary slip of paper from the box. Moreover, Tessie reveals that she lives almost abstracted from the events of the community since her husband is the partaking in the event and Tessie is gossiping with her friends. Furthermore, the communities gender inequality occurs as Tessie draws the final black spot and is stoned to death. The act of being chosen by the lottery and Tessie 's inability to hold a voice against the machine that causes her demise is a paradox of gender inequality and being women within a community, that only includes the female gender when convenient.