It was a crisp, cool spring day in Copenhagen on Sunday on April 12, 2015. Cheerful Danish families headed to places like the Rita Blå Lukus Lopper, one of the city’s favorite flea markets, in search of a lighthearted afternoon full of antique treasure hunting. In Amsterdam, Netherlands, the urban park Vondelpark was full of visitors enjoying its grassy playgrounds and signature rose garden. In both cities, the average family was enjoying a high, healthy quality of life. The woes of poverty, inequality, and sense of worth established by their government was nonexistent. Sunday morning in the United States, however, was greeted by something different. The average family was pouring bowls of sugar saturated, processed cereal before camping on the couch to watch hours of TV or monitoring social media. An overflow of talking heads took over dozens of channels, Twitter was anticipating the next “break the internet” phenomenon, with the “announcement of the century”: Hillary Clinton is running for President in 2016. “I want to be the champion of everyday Americans,” she boasts alongside smiling actors in her premiere campaign video. Everyday Americans do not know, however, that Goldman Sachs bank, a major player in the past devastating economic collapse that forced many middle class families into sudden poverty, is her campaign’s second biggest donor, and she has aligned herself with corporations like Wal-Mart, a store whose employees can sometimes be described as “working
America is often referenced with the idea of the “American Dream” and the “Land of Opportunity.” For centuries, people have flocked to America in hopes of a better life and greater opportunity. However, if they are searching for equal opportunity, America is not the country that they will find it in. Success in the United States is limited to the opportunities available to the individual, and without equal distribution of opportunity, financial success is not reachable to those in the lower classes of American society. Notable educators and authors such as Gregory Mantsios and Diana Kendall have brought the problems of American society to attention, claiming that the rich are getting richer and the poor continue to remain poor. In his essay, “Class in America – 2009,” Mantsios discusses the myths that revolve around class in America, and then refutes these myths by describing the realities of the society Americans live in. Similarly, in her essay, “Framing Class, Vicarious Living, and Conspicuous Consumption,” Kendall writes about the realities of the classes in America while advocating for a change in the way the media portrays the class issues. The United States was founded on the belief of equal opportunity for all individuals, and many still believe that equal opportunity still holds true today. Despite the way media masks the class issues, empirical evidence and research show that equal opportunity does not exist in America due to
The World Famous Pike Place Fish Market John Yokoyama started working for Pike Place Fish in Seattle, Washington, in 1960. At age 25, he used all his savings to purchase the unsuccessful business. He spent the next 20 years running the Pike Place Fish Market, but he says in retrospect that he treated his employees more like objects or collateral than human beings. He made a living, but his business did not thrive. Finally, he realized his thoughts, feelings and attitudes were hindering his success.
Kyrsten Sinema has been leading a life unlike many others’; going from a middle-class early childhood, to homelessness, to co-valedictorian, to practicing lawyer with a PhD, and to “Prada Socialist” in Congress. Sinema was born to an upper middle-class family in 1976. She and her two siblings were raised by both their parents in a five-bedroom house in Tucson, AZ. Her father, Dan Sinema Sr., was a lawyer and her mother, Marilyn, was a stay-at-home mom. Her father lost his job during the 1980s recession since clients were complaining about him, a Real Estate claim gone badly, and IRS debts. This was when the family went from a upper-middle-class status into debts and foreclosure.
Insider trading became a more dangerous operation as the SEC and Department of Justice enforced American laws. Meanwhile, American politics became increasingly associated with wealth. Campaigns became more expensive and with the upcoming election, the Electoral College may select Jeb Bush, fulfilling his role as the third member of what effectively is the Bush dynasty or a Clinton to start the Clinton dynasty. The American government is eliminating the American Dream of individualistic success and instead conjoining economic prowess with political dominance. In practice, the stratified distribution of wealth and the American government system is evolving into a hierarchical regime with dynasties and minimal universal economic opportunities. Over the past thirty years over 50 percent of the wealth has been retained by the top .1% of Americans (Karimi). Instead of regular change, now scarcely does an inventor or hedge fund manager join those leading America. In practice, equal opportunity has become limited to those who already own capital. The American Identity no longer entails the American Dream, but rather is reverting to historical European practices. The United States’ government is an aristocratic republic with growing totalitarian powers. The current American identity is becoming a restricted form of economic determinism with minimal social
In this address Clinton uses a combination of all three to try to convince people of her being the right candidate for the job. Clinton’s rhetoric depends largely on the fact of her being relatable in comparison to the millionaire Trump who makes up the much envied American and criticized elite.
Bernie Sanders once said, “A nation will not survive morally or economically when so few have so much and so many have so little” (“Bernie Sanders Quotes”). He was the runner up for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. He seemed to be bringing forth a new era for the Democrats, one that would have been anti-corporation and would finally pass an effective Universal Health Care. Unfortunately for him , big business and the establishment Democrats won again. This election serves as a good example of the Democratic party - a party whose history goes from supporting slavery to enforcing justice and acting as a vessel for change, all the while sprinkled with corporate corruption.
It is no mystery that that America has inherent issues with taking care of its lower class in comparison to many other developed countries. What is concerning is that people can work a fulltime job or may be even two jobs and still not have the resources needed to make ends meet in this society of consumption. The poor of America do not even receive even the slightest bit of sympathy and are coldly told that they should work harder as if they were not already doing that previously. Barbara Ehrenreich, the author of Nickel and Dimed, gives up her role as a member of the upper-middle class and speculates on the viability of living impoverished, detailing awful and harmful that life is, and implies much needed changes, revealing harsh injustices
America is known by being the land of freedom, and those who inhabit it love to point out how much of that freedom they want to keep – mainly when it is about the government not telling them how to spend their money. If taking away income taxes to pay welfare to poor people is always a big debate in the land of Uncle Sam, some people believe it should sparkle even more revolt when that money is being given to rich, very rich people. Touching that issue, the columnist Jon Caldara wrote the article “Rich, White Welfare Queens” at the Denver Post Online two weeks ago. Caldara is a well-known Coloradan libertarian, which can sound like a liberal in most of the world, but in the US is nothing more than those individuals who believe that governments should never or almost never interfere in the economy. Because of that background, he often beats
The documentary film “Park Avenue: Money, Power, and the American Dream” directed by Alex Gibney is about the wealth gap between the rich and the poor in the United States. The documentary compares the access to opportunities of residents of Park Avenue both on the Upper East Side and in the South Bronx. The documentary includes interviews with a series of people: a doorman at 740 Park Avenue, journalist Jane Mayer, Yale University Professor Jacob Hacker, Berkeley Professor Paul Piff, and Republican advisor Bruce Bartlett. The documentary makes a compelling case that inequality exposes democracy and that the victims of inequality include not only those who find themselves in the rapidly expanding underclass, but the American dream itself.
In a country built from unparalleled equality, our election system is not inclusive of the less affluent candidates. Inevitably, monetary funding has become a centralized focus point for American politics and has provided a reckless entry way for candidates not prepared for the presidency. Taking this current election for example, Hillary Clinton, democratic presidential candidate, received a donation of 25.6 million dollars from the Hedge-Fund, this being only a small fraction of her over all funding. Contrastingly, Jill Stein, Green Party Candidate, has only received 3.2 million dollars in total funding for her campaign. The difference is striking. Providing a
First Lady Michelle Obama has always been one known for her inspiring speeches and her commitment to women’s rights. In Manchester, New Hampshire, she is seen once again standing up for women and for this country by opening the public’s eyes to disrespect Donald Trump has shown for us. Throughout the entire speech the three rhetorical appeals of pathos, ethos, and logos, are all used effectively and powerfully to get her message across. She mainly targets the audience of empowered women but she also addresses the effect that voting for Donald Trump will have for men and women. Through the rhetorical appeals and the tone, she sets for her audience, Michelle Obama campaigns for the presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
This “middle-class nation” is struggling to support all those who live in its borders and the misconceptions about wealth are vastly overrated. Furthermore, the idea of wealth and stability is incorrect, and there is a very sharp contrast between the rich and poor in the country. As the richest twenty percent of American hold ninety percent of the total household of the total household wealth in the country, those at the bottom have managed very poorly and suffer to get through the days.
Food trucks are like shooting stars at lunchtime in the city of Chicago. Street vending in Chicago has a long history that is dating back to at nineteenth century. In Chicago there are 18 trucks feeding the streets of Chicago, dishing out sandwiches, sausages, tamales, tacos, and pancakes. According to Baruch, there are about 3 million people leaving in Chicago land area with 7000 restaurants and 90 different ethnic groups, it was quick to pick and choose what to include and what would appropriately fall under the guise of street food, since Chicago is not a push cart kind of town (Baruch). There were time in the city of Chicago where the street vendors and push carts used to ruled. Chicago’s street cuisine like that of the other big cities, get its identity from and flourished under, the vast influx of immigrants populations.
This election, many people see a solution to this problem through Donald Trump’s political campaign on a platform of “Make America Great Again”. Trump is running, creating new jobs and improving the economy, which appeals to many people who are in the lower and middle classes who have been left behind by economic inequality. Trump’s largest base of support comes from white Americans who do not have a high school degree. This group usually has a very small income, if any at all, because they are less educated. In contrast, those with a college degree have a much easier experience finding work out of college. This means that those without a high school diploma are looking for economic change in order to gain an advantage and proceed with their economic pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. Other groups with large support for Trump are people with mobile homes and “old economy jobs” which are, similarly, groups with lower incomes. Trump appeals to these groups such as the “old economy jobs” because they are losing their jobs as new technology emerges. As “old economy jobs” decline, the demand for new jobs increase; the creation of which Donald Trump endorses. Donald Trump is definitely not a traditional conservative, but he has the ability to attract these groups with his platform through his populist appeal. Thus, a person who is lower in the economic gap would lean towards a candidate such as
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