The Wealth Gap

Combating the wealth gap is tricky business and because the income gap is so wide, it would require more than two presidential terms or one straight forward policy to fix it. Income inequality and economic growth have a positive correlation meaning the economy cannot maximize its growth potential if income inequality is high, so there are two ways to approach this issue; one being from the economy and business side to increase economic growth and hopefully stabilize income inequality and two being to tackle the wealth gap directly to promote economic expansion. The latter would tackle the problem head on but would require more work while the first option is not a guarantee fix and could make the problem even worse. The only sure fix would be to close the income gap directly to promote economic wellbeing. Two options that could be explored to do so would be; one: use government intervention to further shape market forces

The wealth gap is a problem that which the hard working people of America know very little about. Using Ignorance towards this problem does not cease its existence of it but rather contributes to growth because it’s not being addressed. It’s a problem that seems to affect mainly the minorities of the U.S. population, such as Blacks and Hispanics. However, not everyone is in the dark about this lingering ever

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

This wealth gap has become increasingly large in recent years. “The richest 20 percent of Americans hold nearly 85 percent of the total household wealth in the country” (Mantsios 284). The wealth gap has been growing at a faster rate in recent years, since about 1995. “Edward Wolff found that wealth inequality actually leveled off from 1989 to 1995, a slow growth period, after rising steeply between 1983 and 1989, a fast growing period” (Zhu). The wealth gap had stopped growing prior to 1995 and had been leveling off for about 6 years. This period of slow growth stopped in 1995 though. “89 percent of the total net growth from 1995 to 2004 took place among the wealthiest households” (Harvard). So, while the wealth gap had started to stagnate in in 1989 it began growing at an incredibly fast rate in 1995. Almost 90 percent of the entire wealth gain went to the upper class after 1995. This fast growth rate was a result of the introduction of broadband Internet and the digital

Over the past 30 years, income inequality has been growing markedly as the gap between different social classes. Income inequality interests me the most as it is a future-related issue that anyone can be subject to. Briefly speaking, when incomes are distributed unequally for the same working hours/type of job depending on gender, race, disability, fortune, or age. As the gap is forming between the rich and anyone else, the middle class slowly started to fade. One of the many disadvantages that this issue carries is its effect in giving birth to discrimination between different social groups. This can also lead to decreasing employment chances depending on certain shallow details. The United Nations can address this issue by establishing a

In the United States wealth disparity, has affected different race of people, for example blacks, leading experts the field of sociology, in their opinion that black people are at a disadvantage in comparison to other ethical groups such as whites in wealth distribution, there are several social issues that creates this disparity. In the article written by Kellen Stanfield, (2011), p. 350 Persistent Racial Disparity, Wealth and the Economic Surplus as the for Reparations in the United States, states that “Even after the exclusion from wealth accumulation due to slavery ended, “segregation blocked access to education, decent jobs, and livable wages among the grandparents and parents of blacks born before the late 1960s, effectively preventing

I am not okay with middle class losing their money that they worked hard for. The wealthy need to stop being so selfish. If it continues to be the way it is then the middle class with probably be called poor and middle class will no longer be in the chart. Half of the united states are middle class people. People that struggle enough right now that are living off of paychecks after paychecks just not okay. The government need to stop putting taxes so high and making poor people pay more than what they should be paying, highing the taxes is not okay some people are immigrants or being colored, can only work with a certain type of job that could only pay so much. Not everyone will be in school for most part of life

What exactly is wealth disparity? And why does it matter? The website inequality.org is a fascinating website full of statistics on this topic and provides data by analyzing whether policies instituted help, or hurt this problem. They define wealth inequality as “the unequal distribution of assets within a population. The United States exhibits wider disparities of wealth between rich and poor than any other major developed nation” (inequality.org, 2017, para. 1). Using terms such as distribution of assets would give the idea that we live in a socialistic economy. This word seems to be Taboo in America, but people don’t realize that we are very close to this concept. It is just hidden better. There are many reasons that this

We all know stories of the rich unnecessarily splurging on overpriced luxury items, such as a ten thousand dollar box of chocolates, a forty-five thousand dollar shirt, or even a one million and six hundred thousand dollar pair of sandals. Imagine if that money could be put towards something benevolent, such as feeding millions of people who suffer from starvation. The current issue plaguing the world’s inhabitants is the ever-widening gap between the wealthy and impoverished, resulting in social and economic troubles. As wealth continues to leave the hands of the poor, only to drop in the hands of the rich, the common people become ensnared by the various complications that arise. The excessive wealth inequality between the wealthy and poor

In the article “America’s wealth gap between middle-income and upper-income families is widest on record” by Richard fry talks about the wealth gap between the upper and lower class is so far wide apart from each other.

Income redistribution refers to the concept of transferring income from the wealthy individuals to the less wealthy individuals through social mechanisms such as monetary policies, charity, welfare, land reforms, and taxation among others. Income redistribution affects the entire economy rather than selected groups of individuals. The concept of income redistribution emanates from the existence of income inequalities within an economy. Income inequality depicts a gap between the highest and the lowest income earners in an economy (Tullock 13). Income inequality is sometimes considered appropriate in societies since it acts as an incentive in free market economies, whereby in the absence of inequality, elements of economic stagnation and lack of enterprise would emerge. Conversely, income inequality is criticized on the basis of introducing contributing towards the development of key problems in the society, including progression of poverty levels. This paper seeks to explore the concept of income redistribution and its key pros and cons.

Since the Great Recession, upper-income families have regained some of their wealth, while middle-income families haven’t seen gains at all. In this recovery period the wealth gap has only increased, to put this into perspective in 2013 low and middle-income families’ wealth is around what it would have been in the 1990’s. So while the rich get richer, the disparities between middle- and lower-income families are growing wider, much like the gap in Brazil. These two countries share problems with economic growth and spreading the wealth.

Along with the developments of economics and finance, today’s society is diverse. The gap between wealth and poverty is enlarging, so individuals work harder and are more competitive in order to survive. Amy Chua, who regards herself as a typical immigrant Chinese mother, the author of “Why Chinese Mother are Superior”, talks about the differences Western parenting and Chinese parenting. She also lists some rules that she would not allow her two daughters to do, which seem tough and strict to western children. Amy Chua also uses her daughters’ examples to illustrate why her Chinese parenting is more successful than her husband’s education to the children, as she compares Chinese parenting and Western parenting. Then people would ask, why the parenting style is so different between east and west? Probably because of the competitions in China are more intense. In the essay, “Win in China”, James Fallows talks about one of the reality television shows in China, which is about the contestants fight for money to start their own businesses. The show gives people a chance that have good plans for entrepreneurships to show up their skills and ideas to get the attentions from investor in China, or even the whole world. By producing the shows, a lot of outstanding businessmen make the audiences feel energetic and excited. The words “Entrepreneurship” and “Entrepreneur” not only represent the America values, but also become the Chinese values that everyone regards them as heroes. The

Laissez-faire economies will naturally diverge. In the absence of external shocks, the middle-class diminishes over time while the wealthy will accumulate capital. In the past century, the American middle-class benefited from the erosion of traditional powers in war-torn Europe and expansionary policies passed during The Great Depression. These shocks allowed the US to grow a strong and prosperous labor force. But as the United States entered the latter half of the 1970s, the growth of real income began to stall and was no longer matching the growth of productivity. Although the productivity/GDP still rose, growth is not a rising tide that lifts all boats. This bifurcation of income and productivity was caused by automation, globalization and exasperated by conservative economic policy. This bifurcation also

The growing gap between the rich and poor is now at its highest levels due to wealth disparity, income inequality and education. Reference to the term ‘the gap between the rich and the poor’ also refers to inequality among groups in society as well as countries and is related to equality in opportunity and outcomes. Although there is no standard in measuring the gap between the rich and poor, indicators such as wealth disparity, income and education are threats to the growth of economies.