The Widening Income Gap Of Modern America

The United States has been one of the richest countries in the world since the Industrial Revolution, and has continually grown in power since. Not only has the size of our economy, but our ability to trade and conduct commerce made us a premier country in the world. However, this does not exclude the United States from having flaws as well. Throughout history, income inequality has been prominent within the United States, dividing people socially and ethnically. The income inequality gap in the United States has steadily been increasing, creating a larger economic divide between classes, and causing a ripple effect on aspects such as education, home ownership, and household income.

There is no doubt that wealth inequality in America has been escalating quickly; the portion of total income earned by the top one percent has doubled since the beginning of the 1970’s. The wealthy are the main beneficiaries

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.

At the root of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ highly touted (and shouted) policies, from free college to an increase in the minimum wage, is the issue of inequality in America. Perhaps it’s no surprise that Sanders has seen great success on his message of fixing inequality in the United States, the gap between the wealthy and poor has been growing at an alarming rate. The focus tends to be on income inequality rather than wealth inequality. According to Google Trends, searches for “Income Inequality” significantly outnumber searches for “Wealth Inequality”, and have consistently done so since 2004 (Web Search Interests). Despite this, wealth inequality is a far greater problem than income inequality. Income inequality

Income inequality has been a rising problem in the United States for the past few decades. One of the main issues surrounding this years is election, especially for the Democratic candidates is income inequality and how to address it. Public opinion on income inequality and the government’s role in changing it can easily shape how the election turns out this year which can make great differences to the lives of American’s for years to come.

Income inequality in the United States has been on the rise since 1970 (Piketty & Saez 2003). The consequences to high levels of inequality include: economic decay, financial instability, lack of economic mobility, and distrust in political institutions(citations). In theory, these consequences should be impacting Americans attitudes toward income inequality. Americans take pride in being the land of economic opportunity; however, the American dream is at risk with high levels of inequality. A 2013 study, argued that intergenerational mobility is lower with high levels of income inequality, which indicates some families are struggling to advance up the economic ladder (Corak 2013). Furthermore, Americans recognize that economic opportunity

The difference between the rich and the poor is increasing from mid-1980s to mid-2000s; the rich now have three times more wealth than half of the poor. The income gap can be attributed

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

The data suggests that in general, there are more people who think we need to lower the income gap rather than leave it be. However, the amount of people who favor lowering income inequality does not exceed half of the population, so it cannot be said that the majority support lowering the income gap. This is due to the significant portion of people, 20%, who are indifferent on the issue. Lowering the income gap does not get support across party lines. Most Democrats are for reducing the income inequality, whereas most Republicans are against it. Independents’ opinion on the issue is the same as the general population’s. When it comes to education, there is a trend indicating that the higher the education level of the individual, the less likely they are to support reducing the income gap. Finally, the survey points out that individuals which have a higher income are less likely to support reducing income inequality.

Income inequality has affected American citizens ever since the American Dream came to existence. The American Dream is centered around the concept of working hard and earning enough money to support a family, own a home, send children to college, and invest for retirement. Economic gains in income are one of the only possible ways to achieve enough wealth to fulfill the dream. Unfortunately, many people cannot achieve this dream due to low income. Income inequality refers to the uneven distribution of income and wealth between the social classes of American citizens. The United States has often experienced a rise in inequality as the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, increasing the unstable gap between the two classes. The

One of the main inequality issues in America is income distribution. Income is not distributed equally among social classes resulting in unequal amount of pay and earned income. US income rose from 1970s to 2007. People in the 70th percentile noticed their income declined while anyone above 70th percentile has an increasing income. People who were placed at the 10th percentile discovered their income start to plateau from 2001-2007. They did however, notice they had a bump in income resulting from a raise in minimum wage, but most states had a decrease in income from 2005-2007. Anyone at the 90th percentile or above noticed a raise in income. There was about a five times difference from workers at the 10th percentile to the 90th percentile. There was also an increase in

Income inequality in America is higher than in any other industrial nation in the world. Many believe this creates serious problems for both United States citizens and its economy. The inequality difference is continually getting larger and worsening these problems.

m here, the bipartisan comity ends. The reasons for this narrative and some possible prescriptions to alleviate or reverse income inequality differ. Some conservative thinkers such as Charles Murray believe that income inequality derives from cultural practices. He notes that Americans who get married and raise their children in a nuclear family are wealthier, have arduous work ethics that lead to a perpetuation of success, and are more likely to send their children to college. One corollary of Murray’s argument is that traditionalist conservative values need to be readopted by lower-class Americans. Conversely, liberal thinkers such as Thomas Friedman see income inequality as a result of a divide in education. Friedman argues that in a “flat

Currently Wall Street protestors are among the most outspoken activists about this issue. She notes that “According to the Congressional Budget Office between 1979 and 2007, income grew by 275% for the top 1% of households and just 18% for the bottom 20%.”The United States Census Bureau also identified a gap between the highest income earners and the lowest during this period, even further expanding on it mentioning the gap had remained consistent until the mid-1970s. This widening gap is even more pronounced over that last dozen years where the top 1% captured two thirds of all income growth (Mehdi). Describing this as neither communism nor capitalism and considering this as evidence of income discrepancies in this country it shows sharp growth of disparities. The impact of this gap goes beyond what many would consider “fair” and has the potential to disrupt the fundamental values and systems of America. Contributing factors may be due to changing economies, globalization, decline of trade unions, or elitist aspiring towards

The point of this paper is to analyze the effects income inequality has on the economy. To look at other places inequality affects the lives of the people involved. And to come up with solutions to address inequality in a bipartisan way that will lessen the impacts for future generations.