The Causes Of Income Inequality In The United States

Income Inequality in America is a problem that’s been going on for decades, and many feel that it hardly exists, the many people that feel that way are highly uneducated, and seem to not really care about this tremendous problem that in one’s eyes really has no end in the near future, in fact it has been gradually rising and one feels that it’s just not fair. 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: 1. Upper Class, 2. Upper Middle Class, 3. Middle Class, 4. Working Class, 5. Poor.

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,

The United States is often viewed as a wealthy and stable country, but as shown in 2011, “the richest fifth of American households received about 51.1 percent of total income, while the poorest fifth received about 3.2 percent” (McConnell). There are many sources of income inequality that effect poverty in the United States and the role that discrimination plays in reducing and increasing wages for different people and how the people of the United States are affected by it.

Imagine the cool, refreshing feeling of ice-cold water colliding with the dusty, dry-caked layer of your mouth for the first time after a strenuous day of working in the heat. At your construction job, you and 89 fellow laborers worked on completing the final floor in a sixteen-story building project in Lower Manhattan. After you took a swig of water from the share of the entire worker’s cooler, you returned to the cooler for another small dixie-cup round of water, but nothing came out. Unsatisfied, you looked around for a cool libation to suppress the uncomfortable frustration that started boiling inside of you in the hot, scorching midsummer blaze. You soon found a sense of sympathy when you realized that the guy behind you in line did not even get a single drop of water. In fact, out of the 90 workers, less than one-third of you actually got a single cup of water. After a few moments passed and the mental and physical stress started affecting your production, you gazed off at the building adjacent to your site. You never really payed any attention to the building for the last 8 months, but your eyes started to focus in on the actions of those inside it. The only person you could discern on

The debate over whether income inequality should be an important topic in comparison to other issues that our nation faces. Income inequality an be defined as “the extent to which income is distributed in an uneven manner among a population (dictionary.com).”According to the Census Bureau who reported that there has been a “rise in income inequality in America, the gap between rich and poor in New York is getting worse (CQ Researcher, pg. 991)”. Right America has one of the largest inequality gap, in comparison to India and the African nation of Burkina Faso (CQ Researcher, pg. 991)”. This debate over income inequality has been inconsistent. Some do not see an issue with the way that money is distributed, while other see this issue as a major problem that our nation faces and strategies/ policies needs to be implemented to address this issue. I

Income inequality is a controversial topic discussed throughout the world. Many feel strongly that income inequality can hinder Americans or benefit them. Although some believe that income inequality helps Americans, it truly hinders them. Throughout the course of 30 years people have been unsatisfied with their income (Pettinger, 2011). Just about everything that is the result of income inequality can be thought of as a hindrance. Regarding Americans and their money, many various disadvantages can be directly related to income inequality.

Twenty years into democracy, the high poverty rates of the post-Apartheid government is an indication of the high income inequality and also a clear view that improper policy formulations or planning. The ANC at some point forgot to create policies which could be consider or uplift ordinary citizens instead of benefiting those who are already better off, and to add up, the current situations encountered by the current leadership is an indication that they have not advanced to narrow down the income or economic inequality gap between the rich and the poor. However, let’s give them credit that at least there are few rich black people than before even though there still remain the dominance of white people on the economic platform of getting

Income inequality is the defining issue in this country today; income inequality is an economic danger in the United States, increasing and becoming permanent, reducing social mobility in the U.S. The income and gap between the wealthy is produced by the number one reason for the low and slow economy. Corporations and the top 1 % are hurting the economy and do not seem to comprehend that the flow of wealth is what gives them the chance to make more. Corporations should be hiring more to get more into the flow so that the economy can come back to

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

In 2013, President Obama asserted that the growing income gap in the United States is a “defining challenge of our time”. Economic inequality consistently ranks amongst the greatest concerns of voters and is the subject of growing national and international attention. As such, explorations of rising inequality are not new. Where the readings are revelatory, however, is in their efforts to expose the fallacy that economic distribution, be it the hyper-concentration of wealth at the top or the existence of poverty at the bottom, is ‘natural’, nothing more than an economic reality caused by ‘inevitable shifts in [the] economy driven by global, universal pressures’ (Hacker & Pierson, 4). Instead, the authors posit that economic inequality is ‘largely a product of political decisions and institutions that generate and sustain a sharply unequal distribution of wealth and resources’ (Williams, 569).

Rashbrooke argues that inequality in society is often associated with the large income gap; as a result societies are categorised into certain ethnic groups, birthplaces and financial backgrounds. The significant difference between the rich and the poor has widened to a point where the humanity slowing becomes non-existence. The financial struggles of low-income families are more likely to be stress and affect their value of life. The responsibility to allow individuals to be aware of the rising inequality relies on each person in the country to make a change

There’s no denying that there are social classes in America. At the top there are the billionaires, and residing at the bottom are those that don’t have a roof over their head. The cause of this huge difference in living is due to income inequality. The gap between the levels is only getting worse. In fact, because of this the middle class is beginning to disappear. However, we can prevent this from happening by placing a strong focus on education, creating more jobs for Americans, and increasing the federal minimum wage.

When most people hear the word inequality they go directly to the issues of race and rights of the people. I myself, was one of these people and had never stopped to consider the inequality within our economy. This is a very big problem, but there are many potential solutions to bridge the gap.

To end income inequality and also to make public administration more efficient, the following should be done by all concerned stakeholders. First, the policies adopted by the government should focus on the creation of opportunities for the low income population. For a long time the policies have been perceived to be favoring mostly the top income class. In order to achieve this, the starting point can be something like assisting with making education and training more affordable. Education is a major equalizing factor, and a gate to the middle class for most of the population living in poverty. Also, the burden of loans can be reduced to manageable levels; perhaps reducing interest rates. At the same time, the government can assist with helping students in acquiring the necessary skills right from the elementary and secondary schools.

There are three factors that contribute to income inequality: technology, trade, and politics. Starting back in 1918, the rich took in a very large portion of the total income of the United States, decreasing growth and median wages, and in 1928, the economy peaked, before crashing (Reich 5). During the Great Prosperity, the nation grew fast, increasing median wages, which allowed the middle class to consume more. This created more jobs and increased demand. Then, in the 1970’s, the middle class stopped growing when the wages dropped due to an advance in technology, where computers and machines started taking American jobs and companies expanded oversees where labor would be cheaper. They then traded with them, saving more money on labor but taking away more American jobs. The middle class kept spending and around 1990, 55% of women with kids were working for a salary, bring in more income to families and allowing them to continue spending (Reich 7). However, once this spending became too much, citizens went into debt and the debt per household increased by a third over the next 17 years (Reich 7). While all this spending was happening, the government made the mistake of slashing government spending on buildings and roads. It also stopped supporting unemployed workers and allowed companies to punish workers who joined unions (Reich 11). In addition, the government cut the taxes of the top earners in half, bringing out the income inequality that the wealthier don’t have