The Rich Get Richer While The Poor Get Poorer

The free marketplace represents a superlative model of capitalism, since it denotes the most proficient and profitable way of production. In a free market, economic actors are capable of conducting business devoid of political interferences, such as the burden of a minimum wage, or trade in tariffs. Without these limits, economic actors are abridged to a state of clean competition, driving costs downstairs and resulting in senior quality and lower price products.

            Usually, the first disadvantage that people who oppose free enterprise bring up is the significant social division, or gap between the rich and poor. Although this may be true, it is an inevitable misfortune that will be found in all forms of markets - unless, of course, you live in a utopia. The sad truth is, there will always be a gap between the wealthy and less fortunate, even in

The rule of the market by liberating free enterprise or private enterprise resulted in greater openness to international trade and investment. Additionally, the rule of the market meant reducing wages by deunionizing workers and eliminating worker’s rights that had been won over many years. It also meant no more price control and the total freedom of movement for capital, goods, and services (Nylund, 2016). People were convinced that having an unregulated market was the best way to increase economic growth, which would ultimately benefit everyone. Although, the rule of the market was meant to have money “trickle-down” to the poor, it did not truly benefit the people at the bottom. The very wealthy would often keep the money they were making instead of letting it trickle down. To illustrate, the after-tax incomes in the U.S. between 1979 and 2006 rose by 256% for the top 1% of households, while they rose 21% for the middle fifth of households and 11% for the bottom fifth of households (Finn, Nybell & Shook, 2010). This means that the

Reich starts his exordium with a distribution of where American workers found themselves in the early 1990’s in reference to where almost all American workers were just 20 years before. Reich placed most of the workers that contributed to the economy during the Nixon administration as being in one boat, analogous to the famous quote by G.K. Chesterton, “We are all in the same boat, in a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty.” Under Reich’s distribution you were still in a lifeboat, but the sea state and your future could be rough or smooth sailing depending upon your chosen profession. To which boat one found his or her self was directly related to how

The Gilded Age was named by Mark Twain. What he meant by this was that the time period was glittering on the surface, but corrupt underneath. The name suits the time period well; the Gilded Age was a time of economic growth, industrial revolution and wealth, yet beneath the surface of all this the middle and lower classes suffered greatly. The big corporations and the small number of wealthy elites held most of the country’s wealth and the poor were left with barely anything. In other words, in the Gilded Age, the wealthy became wealthier and the poor became poorer.

In A Capitalist Manifesto, Gary Wolfram provides an explanation of how free market systems work in society and highlights their benefits compared to socialist economies. The first chapters of the book are an introduction to microeconomics: how marginal analysis, supply, demand, market equilibrium, opportunity cost, and profits work. According to him there are three fundamental advantages to a market economy: it allocates resources efficiently, consumers determine wages and therefore income distribution is fair, and finally it’s the only method of organizing society that is consistent with individual liberty. He explains that socialism is an economic system that is is unable to provide a decent standard of living for people and that it cannot survive, giving as an example the fall of the Iron Curtain. The reason is that

In the book by Jacobus, A World of Ideas, Robert Reich writes the article, “Why the Rich are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer”, and he uses a metaphor to describe the three economic groups that are now in different boats. He compares how the routine producers’ boats and the in-person servers boats are sinking while the symbolic analyst is rising. He also discusses how immigration, and technology competes for the job of routine producers and in-person servers while the symbolic analysts are in such great demands. Robert Reich is correct about the symbolic analyst have the potential to become wealthy and it is expected for them to have high level education and job experience: for example, being a student is considered as an in-person server but taking high education, such as nursing, will make them be identified as a symbolic analyst.

In the book by Jacobus, A World of Ideas, Robert Reich writes the article, “Why the Rich are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer”, and he uses a metaphor to describe the three economic groups that are now in different boats. He compares how the routine producers’ boats and the in-person servers boats are sinking while the symbolic analyst is rising. He also discusses how immigration, and technology competes for the job of routine producers and in-person servers while the symbolic analysts are in such great demands. Robert Reich is correct about the symbolic analyst have the potential to become wealthy and it is expected for them to have high level education and job experience: for example, being a student is considered as an in-person servers but taking high education, such as nursing, will make them be identified as a symbolic analyst.

In theory a free market would work. It would cause prosperity, if we lived in an idealistic utopia, but blind treatises such as this tend to ignore the facts of life and the core being of human nature. This is the first fallacy of the theory. The fact that there is an essential responsibility being placed on a few people's shoulders without some sort of check and balances system. This takes idealism to a dangerous level, by neglecting objective facts about the likelihood of something to go wrong and dispelling the possibility that the plan might not work and setting up precautions. Close mindedness is the enemy of all plans. Selfishness is the driving force of not only our daily lives but of evolution as whole. Mankind will always seek

A free market is a type of market that the government is not involved in. Since the government does not care about what happens, the free market is also called “hands-off” or “let it be economics”. The government is limited to protect the citizens from the danger and that is the major goal for the government. In the free market economy, there are three components of the free market economy: competition, active but limited government, and the self-interest. Competition is one of the main components of the free market economy. Competition means that the companies compete with one another to make more benefits to themselves. According to the concept of the free market economy, the competition means a good thing because it is a basic

Free market policies would also amputates any needless regulations such as quotas, tariffs, or unnecessary boundaries on corporations. In turn, production costs of goods and services are now reduced since money that would have gone to satisfying these regulations can now be supplied into the business. Now firms are able to afford to provide more of the same product at a lower cost for consumers, with extra revenue to improve production or even wages of the workers. These workers will then, in turn, have a larger amount of money to utilize to buy products now offered at a lower rate improving not one, but multiple businesses.

Unfortunately some people do not have the ability to earn a living in a market economy. Others benefit from inherited wealth, hard dedicating work, or owning their business. Governments in market economies inevitably engage in programs that redistribute income, and they often do so with the overt intention of making tax policies. On the other hand, advocates of extensive redistribution disagree and allege that role of government limits the concentration of wealth and maintains a wider diffusion of economic power among households, presently as antitrust laws are designed to maintain competition and a wider diffusion of power and resources among producers. Those who oppose major redistribution programs counter that additional taxes on high-income families decrease the incentives

The United States of America was once renowned for and demarcated by the size and successfulness of its middle class. Currently, America faces a shrinking middle class and a new rising oligarchy that is creating the largest wealth disparity in eighty years. Robert B. Reich wrote Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few, for the sole purpose of exposing the reasons why the wealthy get wealthier and poor get poorer. Reich contends that the free market vs government debate serves as a means of distraction, covering up the real issues of the top one percent reaping economic gains. Reich states in the book that the “free market” is a myth that prevents us from examining the rule changes and questioning who they serve. Reich further states “it is no accident that those with disproportionate influence over these rules, who are the largest beneficiaries of how the rules have been designed and adapted, are also among the most passionate supporters of the “free market” and the most ardent advocates of the relative superiority of the market over the government.”

The free-market embodies the ideals set forth by Adam Smith. The free market is different from other markets in that it allows its participants to purse their own interests rather than requiring the dictation of a government or ruler. This pursuit of self-interest causes a

All of the market is voluntary, no coercion. Milton Friedman explains, “Political freedom means the absence of coercion of a man by his fellow man.” There would be people trading with other people only when they themselves benefit from the situation. This way people have the choice on how much to trade, or to even trade at all. Everyone can benefit from a competitive market. Friedman explains, “By removing the organization of economic activity from the control of political authority, the market eliminates this source of coercive power. It enables economic strength to be a check to political power rather than a reinforcement.” Without this sense of being forced into situations, people are a lot happier. When people are voluntarily participating in the free market, then the government makes money consequently. The competitive free market takes some responsibilities from the government, so the government can run better. A more competitive free market allows for the government to function more smoothly.