The Gap Between The Rich And The Poor In The United States

It can be said that money is power in the United States, and this is brought out in the essay, “Class in America---2012” written by Gregory Mantsios. He says that even though many Americans do not like to discuss class, “it can determine where people live, who their friends are, how well they are educated, and what they do for a living” (Mantsios). Many Americans do not speak about class type, and most find it unacceptable (Mantsios). Unfortunately, we can see that there are laws that are built to help and better the wealthy, while it cripples the rest of us. According to the Economic Policy Institute, “The richest twenty percent of Americans hold nearly ninety percent of the total household wealth in this county” (Institute) Gregory Mantsios without reserve describes the majority of people are at a disadvantage in their social class, while the upper class is compensated.

From 1938-1969, in America was in a period called the great compression, a time where the difference between the richest and poorest Americans was very small and economic growth was explosive. Due to past and current economic policies and events, income inequality has exploded in America, which is why in 2015 America had the highest level of wealth inequality in the world at 80.56 gini[1] . In the future this inequality will slow down economic growth, increase debt for middle income Americans, make America less democratic, and reduce economic mobility. This problem, however, does have solutions and this paper will lay out some of the solutions and the effect they will have on the economy, but first I will explain the history of income inequality in the US.

The land of freedom, the United States, is the Promised Land for all. Its citizen can be much as prosperous as they want. Nonetheless, a phenomenon has occurred gradually that has changed the economy, social levels, income, and wealth of all Americans. This is called inequality. Inequality has become a social problem since people has not raised their voice take advantage of voting, large corporations as CEOs who take instead of give.

No matter which country you would look into whether it’s from wealthier to those less wealthy countries through the eyes of economics, there are bound to be types of inequity within their borders. Inequity is a very crucial problem in the United States, you would think that our economy here in the states is booming, and the citizens are living life easy or without worry. Life is the United States isn’t as it seems, in fact, Inequity is in fact a big problem even in the United States. Over the years, there has been millions of Americans that were considered to be in poor or in poverty line that are not able to provide for themselves and their families. We can sadly see those Americans on the streets, cars or shelters unable to keep-ends meet that are not able to keep a decent paying job. That is why throughout this paper I’ll be discussing why inequity is a big issue in the United States from how income is distributed through causes of income inequality, social status, and even how the government interventions is trying to alleviate income inequity.

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

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.

This first lecture gave us a close look into the unequal share of wealth and the factors that determine the wealth of individuals in the American society. One of the first factors that affect immensely the inequality in America is the obsessiveness of wanting to classify people and make them mark a box for their gender, race and class. Where men and whites have more privileges than any other person and are not only paid higher, but would most likely spend less time in prison for committing the same crime as an African American. The United states is so unequal that the top 1% of the population has 38.1% of the wealth and the bottom 40% which is a little less than half of the people living in America only have 0.2% of the wealth. And as if that statistic alone was not scary enough, we learn in this

The wealth gap, or wealth inequality, is known as the unequal distribution of assets within a population. The wealth gap in America between the lower and upper classes is rising exponentially. This imbalance within the distribution of wealth leaves those who aren’t as financially stable to struggle to achieve the same standard of education, and overall living necessities, such as housing, as those who’s wealth persistently grows. The rising wealth gap plaguing American society is bringing those of the lower and middle classes to a set disadvantage point compared to those who have an affluent amount of money. Although this inequality is contributing to an emergent opportunity gap, a solution can arise through new legislation concerning financial

The comparison between rich and poor people is a topic with an enormous gap. The bridge between the two is longer than most see it, and is increasing steadily. Michael Sandel wrote a book discussing his opposition to the market society in the United States. The focus of Sandel’s book lies within the title, What Money Can’t Buy. He believes that everything seems to be for sale and that we are a society that revolves around the idea of every person for themselves. Sandel also states that inequality is rising faster than ever. Even though everything is for sale in this day and age, that does not mean everyone is able to purchase whatever they want. Inequality comes in many forms like race, gender and age. Income inequality affects

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.

Chapter 7 of “American Democracy in Peril: Eight Challenges to America's Future” by William E Hudson. The author argues about Economic Inequality and its effect on people living in the United States. Economic Inequality has been a major issue in the United States. As countries, most of the wealth and income is accumulated in the hands of top 1 percent of wealthiest families in America. As in 2008 a financial crisis caused by top 1 percent of the wealthiest families in America which caused Great Recession from which most the 99 percent families suffered till 2011 and they hold top 1 percent wealthiest accountable for causing financial crisis But due to their economic status and strong political influence they were able to escape the accountability

Capitalism has been the central force behind the growth of the United States’ progressive economy. Within such advanced economic system the chances of economic disparity are significantly high. In fact, over the past three decades there has being a steady increase in unequal wealth distribution among the economic classes. To sustain the current unequal wealth distribution among the classes of the American population, there are numerous factors that influence and shape this trend. For some members of the population it is alarmingly disturbing to know that recent statistics have shown that, “In the US [alone] the wealthiest 1% of its population owns more than the bottom 95 %” (Gutman). As for the difference in economic wealth, it resulted

Have you ever wondered how many people in the United States are rich, middle class or poor? It is being interesting reading this chapter because now I understand the enormous gap that exists between the different social classes in the US, and how they are divided. The percentage of poverty in the United States have been increasing since 2000 (DeNavas-Walt and Proctor 20140), and so it continues increasing. It is incredible how much wealth can a person have, and how extremely poor can a person be. Such difference between people is derived from all the several economic classes that exist not only in the US but worldwide.

A major social problem in America today is its inequality of the distribution of income. "Income inequality refers to the gap between the rich and the poor. The United States has the most unequal income distribution in the industrialized world, and it is growing at a faster rate than any other industrialized country" (Eitzen & Leedham, pg. 37). The main reason as to why income is distributed so unequally is because of the gap between social classes.

The era of volatility has created a shift from America being the middle-class society to simply rich or poor (Sachs, 2011). A gap this large has not been experienced since the 1920’s (Sachs). “The top 1% of households takes almost a quarter of all household income” but an economy this top heavy will not be able to succeed (Sachs, 2011, p. 30). The working classes are struggling with housing, wage, and employment issues. Rich individuals are ignoring these troubles, shipping their business operations out of the country, thus furthering the downward spiral of the economy (Sachs). To make matters worse, this has become in a large part a political issue, because the rich can influence candidates with funding, where the poor and working