Three Cheers For Income Inequality Summary

Paul Krugman, in a recent article has eloquently discussed the issue of unequally distributed income in the United States (Krugman, 2015). He alludes to a number of general economic principles in this article. He talks about how a major misconception about the effect of taxes on income inequality in the United States has been addressed through a recent research carried out by Branko Milanovic and Janet Gornick.

Gary Becker’s and Kevin Murphy’s article, “The Upside of Income Inequality”, analyzes the positive effects of the income gap, and Paul Krugman’s New York Times column, “Confronting Inequality”, stresses the negative impact of the income gap; it is apparent by juxtaposing these two texts that income inequality can be effected by economic development, education, and social equality.

The main concepts of the article are describing the corporate welfare system and how it is responsible for growing economic imbalances between the poor and rich populations. The article elaborated on how we cannot ignore the issue anymore because of the substantial loss that we are facing by letting the gap grow (Huff, 1993). The article also goes into the IRS and how there are tax exemptions and deductions that people qualify for and what is allowed.

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.

Wealth inequality in the United States has grown tremendously since 1970. The United States continuously reveals higher rates of inequality as a result of perpetual support for free market capitalism. The high rates of wealth inequality cause the growing financial crisis to persist, lower socio-economic mobility, increase national poverty, and have adverse effects on health and well being.

Presently the United State 's income gap between the middle class and wealthy is undoubtedly significant. Some say that income inequality is

In “Confronting Inequality”, author Paul Krugman explains how bad income inequality is for the American economy while suggesting what to do to fix this growing problem. Krugman covers topics such as the cost of inequality, how the middle class is over extending themselves, education and health care all while appealing to all three rhetorical elements. Krugman’s article has an overall effective and persuasive argument because of the topics he covers and his appeal to the reader with pathos, logos and ethos.

This article titled "How income inequality hurts America” written by Steve Hargreaves explains the thesis statement itself. On the other hand, he states it’s not just income equality but it’s also lifespan inequality, education inequality, and declining economic growth, which refers to the graphs shown above the starting paragraph. Mr. Hargreaves then points out a fact that the rich are getting richer, while the poor and the middle class are falling behind. Another fact concerning this issue is the 400 richest people outnumber the wealth of the bottom 150 million put together.

“One reason to care about inequality is the straightforward matter of living standards. The lions share of the economic growth in America over the past thirty years has gone to a small, wealthy minority…”(Krugman 586).

Robert Reich explained to us, "Income inequality is inevitable and is the essence of capitalism, but when the gap became too much, then it became a problem to the society. Today, the United States has the most inequality distribution of income of all the developed nations, the richest 400 Americans have more wealth than the bottom 150 million people put together"2. First of all, income inequality exists everywhere, it is not a problem for itself. Because of the income inequality, poor people know the life different between people, then they will work harder and harder to catch up to get rid of the poor, and to have a better life. The income inequality is a good thing when it is not much for is the source of power that makes people improve themselves. However, the data show that the income gap is too huge now, the income distribution is extremely unfair. 400 people have more money than the half of the nation, so now the great income inequality disturbs social inequality. Gregory Mantsios wrote "Class in America-2009", he provided some examples from the rich, middle class and poor family to discuss the different life condition of the different class in America. Mr. Mantsios state, "Despite what we like to think about ourselves as a nation, the truth is that

In the article, Buffett started with the comparison between the poor/middle class and the member of the rich class like himself. The comparison shows the fact that the poor/middle class people actually contribute more as a percentage of their income toward society but ironically according to the government policies they have pay more taxes.

As stated in the book, inequality is the unequal distribution of valued goods and opportunity. Basically the wealthy people remain rich and the poor, poor. The inequality in America is less evident to some people

Annotated Bibliography Taxing the rich has been one of the highest priorities of America. There have always been two sides to this conflict, and even though some may think otherwise. Most of the population has voted on the rich to be taxed more than the poor.

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

When it comes to income taxes, the focus is usually on jobs, personal investments, and savings. The debate on who should bear the greater burden when it comes to income taxes is timeless. If all types of tax are aimed at developing the economy, it should be everyone’s equal responsibility to engage in taxation regardless of one’s economic class. Both parties involved proclaim the legitimacy of their arguments. The articles under discussion are representative of this debate. On one side of the debate, there are those who feel that the rich should pay more taxes. Then there are those who feel that the rich should not be punished by shouldering the burden of taxation (Benson and White 1). From an economic theorist’s point of view, both articles articulate valid arguments. However, this does not nullify the significance of the prevailing economic situation. The above debate can be based on various economic contexts.