Today's Economic Problems In America

Together, they made around $83,000 and had around $90,000 in assets which placed them solidly in the middle class. Twelve years later, Allison and David experienced setbacks but increased their income to about $125,000. Their financial assets quadrupled to a whopping $368,000 and saved up thousands of dollars for retirement. However, with the economy downsizing on the heels of the Great Recession and uneven job recovery heavily tilted toward low-wage jobs, David joined millions of other Americans in unemployment. Having spent half a year unemployed, David returned to work working at a significantly lower wage. Over the course of 12 years, David witnessed how work became less stable and more contingent for many Americans. The working experience illustrates a larger transformation in America’s employment landscape, away from middle-class jobs and jobs with significant benefits toward low-paying jobs with few benefits, accelerated by the Great Recession.

. In the Gilded Age the economy was dominated by the wealthy corporations, “And so it went, in industry after industry---shrewd, efficient businessmen building empires, choking out competition, maintaining high prices, keeping wages low, using government subsidies” (Zinn 257). This is seemingly what is happening again in the 21st century; the level of inequality has peaked once more with, “…inadequate wages, poor social mobility, lack of access to universal healthcare and basic social safety nets, limited labor rights and attacks on unions, a tax system that benefits the rich in general and unearned wealth in particular” (Morning's Minion

In the United States of America we have found ourselves back into a rhythm of wealth - or lack of wealth - where the rich are richer and the poor get poorer enlarging the ever growing gap. The economy today (as of 2007) resembles closely to that of 1920s before the great fall. In the film “Inequality for All” we are told the story of the economic state of the United States from Robert Reich, a political economist and the former Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton. When watching this video we find ourselves asking three main questions, which Reich himself brings up in the beginning; what is happening, is it a real problem, and why - also keeping in mind the particulars of the United States as it is today both politically and economically.

(An Analysis of Why The Rich Are Getting Richer And the Poor, Poorer, by Robert B. Reich)

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

     There is a problem in the United States that is growing and is causing issues in our country, but not everybody knows about it. The problem is the distribution of wealth in our society and the world as a whole, and how it is getting worse. Some people would say that it is an inequality due to the needs of the society, while others would say it is to the needs or individuals. This causes even more problems because of there being more than one supposed reason for the issue at hand. The problem is that the distribution of power is possibly starting to be lopsided, and for many reasons. There are two main views of why this is happening, the functionalist perspective and the conflict

For many years, there has been one truth that countless Americans do not wish to face. That truth is that the American dream is dying. The dream of going to college, getting a good job, starting a family, or even purchasing a new home, seem foreign to many Americans now. With the middle class shrinking in size, and the wealth gap between the wealthiest and poorest of Americans getting wider, many can’t feel anything but hopelessness. President Barack Obama had promised a full economic recovery, but ended up just sewing up our economic wounds and ordering the economy to be on bed rest for six years. Many economists argue that Keynesian economics, which favors government intervention in the economy, is the best way to manage and fix a broken

For most middle class Americans, the dream of a stable, well-paying job is a fiction of a past long-departed. With the arrival of the modern system of flexible labor, working class America has waved goodbye to the economic prosperity championed by its forefathers—and begrudgingly welcomed an economy marked by stagnant income levels, dismal prospects of upward mobility, and a lowered seat at the workplace bargaining table. But as many prepare to bury the American Dream as a relic of days past, there endures a spirit of hope within some circles about the prospects of a brighter economic future for working class Americans. While the debate persists over the admirable goals of re-arming America’s unions and implementing a universal basic

In Robert Reich documentary “Inequality for All” he makes a compelling discussion about the serious crises that the United States faces due the widening economic gap. He looks to raise awareness of the U.S. economic gap between the rich and poor. According to Reich the widening divide in America is real and growing. Income levels at the middle and labor class is stagnant and are at it’s lowest levels compared to upper class incomes since the beginning of WWII and is growing wider each year. Reich suggests that the economy runs more smoothly when the middle class has jobs with fair wages, when unions are strong, and when middle class workers have some extra money to spend if possible when the government uses the tax policy properly and when it raises the minimum wage regularly to control the income gap between labor and management. In other words Reich argues that economically healthy middle and labor class equality is the foundation of a thriving economy and is necessary to maintaining a sound national infrastructure and educational system within

Furthermore, when analyzing the different classes, and the distributions of wealth and income in the United Sates; for instance, the upper, middle, and lower classes – it is an astronomical amount of wealth that the top 1 percent acquire. It is also noted by Johnson & Rhodes (2015), “that income and wage inequality have risen sharply over the last thirty years” (pg. 228). Equally important to this, is how the average change in income is divided in Americas quintiles and the widening gaps. For example, in Table 5.2, while the lowest fifth quintile increased from $11,128 to $11,361 – a difference of $233.00 from years 2006 to 2012; the highest quintile increased from $289,446 to $319,918 – an exponential increase of $30,472 (pg. 229). With income inequalities at this rate, it is difficult for the majority of the United States to experience upward social mobility. Pursuing this further, in a line stated by Johnson and Rhodes (2015), “The wealthiest Americans can live on the dividends from their investments without having to touch the principle or work for a salary” (pg. 230). From this, it is visible to see how society has compartmentalized different levels of functions to keep a so called balance for the greater

There was a period of time in the 1960s when the middle class was thriving so much that plumbers made as much as college professors (Davidson, 2013). Through the 1960s, the middle class in America was alive the thriving. Labor Unions were the leaders of this financial success of the middle class. That changed in the late 1970s under President Carter and early 80s with the introduction of Reaganomics, the social and economic plan of former President Ronald Reagan. While the decline began in the 70s, the true end began when President Reagan fired the striking air traffic controllers. After the air traffic controller’s strike, union bargaining power eroded and was one of many factors that reduced the bargaining power of the middle class

In other words, America has a widening gap between its wealthy and poor. As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, there is a problem emerging: the disappearance of the middle class. Low-wage workers continue to fall behind those who make higher wages, and this only widens the gap between the two. There has been an economic boom in the United States, which has made the country more prosperous than it has ever been. That prosperity does not reach all people; it seems to only favor the rich. Rising economic segregation has taken away many opportunities for the poor to rise in America today. The poor may find that the economic boom has increased their income; however, as their income increase so does the prices they must for their living expenses (Dreier, Mollenkopf, & Swanstrom 19).

In today’s capitalist economy, where economic transactions and business in general is centered on self-interest, there is a natural tendency for some people to make more than others. That is the basis for the “American Dream,” where people, if they worked hard, could make money proportional to their effort. However, what happens when this natural occurrence grows disproportional in its allocation of wealth within a society? The resulting issue becomes income inequality. Where a small portion of the population, own the majority of the wealth and the majority of the population own only a fraction of what the rich own. This prominent issue has always been the subject of social tension

“An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.” This quote from Plutarch, a Greek philosopher, explores how a divide of wealth between rich and poor can destroy the fabric of a society. Wealth has been divided unequally by granting more to the rich and not leaving enough for the poor Americans, thereby creating a wealth gap. Income inequality occurs when wealth is distributed unequally in a population because of the influence richer Americans have which leads to a multitude of problems including the declining buying power of the middle class as well as a country where the rich can buy power through donations in elections.

There is a problem plaguing the United States: economic inequality. The financial gap between the rich and poor is widening, and it only continues to increase. Not only are the rich becoming richer, but the poor are becoming poorer. If some type of change does not happen, it will cut the middle class. Although this is not a concerning matter to some, to others it's a huge concern and continues to be a daily problem. Because economic inequality hurts the United States economy, the government should take steps towards reducing the gap between the rich and poor.