Wage Gap and the Debt Trap in America President Barack Obama made it clear that income inequality was going to be a big priority, “the combined trends of income inequality and decreasing mobility pose a fundamental threat to the American dream, our way of life, and what we stand for around the globe... I believe this is the defining challenge of our time.” The president said the words income inequality 26 times during that speech which everyone took to mean one thing: an all out assault on income inequality. Instead, President Obama immediately backed down shifting strategy on attacking income inequality because Democrats are split on the issue leaving Obama to shift talk away from the subject. Our President can’t talk about income inequality and our politicians are afraid to bring it up for fear of branding themselves in “class warfare”. Income inequality has just become another topic of conversation we prefer to avoid in America like Japanese internment camps and the record high imprinsonment in America. There is a key reason why no politician wants to talk about income inequality they are blamed of driving a class warfare argument. The phrase class warfare is so toxic, the President actually had to stop talking about the thing, he describes as, “ the fundamental threat to the American dream”. President Obama gathered a group of historians and told them, “...help me find a way to discuss the issue of inequality in our society without being accused of class warfare.” Just
Human rights are rights that we deserve including the right to equal wages; gender and ethnic inequality has been an on-going issue in the United States for a very long time. This inequality has been the reason for the Wage Gap which is a violation of everyone’s human rights. Some people believe that the wage gap is just a gender problem but it is not, it is unequal opportunities for racial and gender minorities; in fact some women that are of a certain race are paid significantly less than someone who is only of one minority. The wage gap relates to human rights because it violates the right to standard adequate living and fair wage. The wage gaps existence is soon to be understood through the deplorable conditions of women and racial
A cause of income inequality could be the jobs that people have. “In the United States, income inequality, or the gap between the rich and everyone else, has been growing markedly… (Income Inequality, para 1).” There have been no signs of income inequality changing for the lower classes, or getting better, therefore, it has become a very concerned issue upon Americans. “America’s top ten percent now average at least nine times as much income as the bottom 90 percent (Income Inequality, para 2).” Many people who have a big dream have jobs that pay minimum wage, which makes it hard. With the rich getting richer, it makes it hard for the lower classes to get a shot at being at the top with them. This also makes it hard to close the gap between the three classes.
Income Inequality is a major problem that has been going on in America for decades. Many people feel that it barely exists today, but those people are very uneducated and don’t really care about the huge problem in front of them the many people that feel that way are highly uneducated, and seem to not really care about which has been gradually increasing instead of decreasing. Unfortunately, there’s not much that can be done, only of course if the poor class of people decide to actually educate themselves and get a higher education. One says poor class, simply because that’s how they’re classified. There are five types of levels that Americans are classified as, and they are: Upper Class, Upper Middle Class, Middle Class, Working Class, Poor. The highest percentage of Americans fall in the Poor department, and it has been that way for decades, and will continue to be that way for decades to come.
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.
Vermont Senator and presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, said it best when he said “A nation will not serve morally or economically when so few have so much, and so many have so little.” This quote perfectly describes the issue that The United States is currently dealing with: income inequality. Income inequality is the gap between how much money is made by the rich and everyone else in the nation. It also refers to the unequal distribution of wealth among people in a population. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the gross domestic product (GDP) in the United States has steadily been rising, making it seem as though economic growth is stable (Inequality for All). However, it does not take into account the increasingly widening gap between the 1% and the 99% of the nation’s population. Government officials should pay closer attention to income inequality in The United States because ignoring the issue ultimately hurts American citizens.
In “Income Inequality: The Public and the Partisan Divide,” Blendon and Benson explain the issue of income inequality and the need to address it. The importance of explaining this problem provides insight for the people who are not educated about the topic, hopefully triggering more public awareness. Blendon and Benson support their opinion by discussing that the two major political parties in the U.S. agree that income inequality is a problem that must be recognized, but cannot come up with a synopsis on how to take care of it. Also, they describe how different perspectives cause different ideas for fixing the issue. Blendon and Benson explain how partisan views towards the role of government are one of the perspectives towards how the income
Income inequality is a big ongoing problem in the United States. It has a big effect on what America was all about, the American dream. The American dream that everyone is equal and has equal opportunities. Although a big part of what goes on in the Untied States that just doesn’t fit the American dream; women are unequal in the work place. They are put under what is known as the “Glass Ceiling”. Women do not get promoted in the work place and aren’t getting equal pay as men. This also leads to wag gap between the men and women. Both create income inequality for women and affect their American Dream. There is a long history of women having to deal with the “Glass Ceiling”. Over time woman have made progress but more progress is
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.
The Rich are more respected better than the poor and Economic inequality can undermine the fairness of political institutions. When you are in first class on the titanic you are treated better and more respected than the poor and when someone is running a campaign they won't put the person that is poors´ suggestion than the riches. To fight against income inequality we can make about everyone in the middle class since that is what works better than the rich being rich and the poor being very
Have you heard what McDonald’s employees’ are asking customers now days? Can you afford fries with that? According to the economist Emmanuel Saez, income inequality has been increasing steadily since the 1970s, and now has attained levels not seen since 1928 (Desilver). So what exactly is income inequality? Most of the time when people talk about income inequality, they usually are discussing the startling growth of the exceptionally rich, the stagnant salaries and diminishing prognoses of the American middle class, and the substantial amount of people at the base of the ladder (Zakaria).
Income inequality has slowly become an issue gaining momentum over the last thirty-five years, did we see it coming, I think so. It has always been an issues, only after decades of misleading political leadership spanning decades are people finally fed-up of being misled and lied to. The current election for the next president has brought about a voice of the American people to demand a change within our three failing political systems that govern America. Only this change, I believe is going to bring a country to its knees, the wealth holders are not, going to just step aside and willing unlock the scales of wealth that to encumber its poor, they are going to dig in and hold fast to what they have stolen and hoarded since the time of slavery.
One of the social issues concerning power, status, and class in American society today is income inequality. The income gap between the social classes has increased drastically throughout the last few decades, creating a significant gap between the wealthy and the poor. This gap has become so large that the middle class has nearly diminished, creating a social class comprised of the rich and the poor. The significant gap between the two social classes is unhealthy for the economy because it provides too much power in the hands of those with high social status.
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
Throughout history, there have been wars and fights over equality. World War 2 is an example of how strongly people can feel about equality. This also applies to the civil rights movement for African Americans and women. The fight for equality is still being waged today, although it may not be as prevalent as it was for World War 2 or the civil rights movement. This time, however, some people are calling for income equality. These people have a very valid point as to why they want income equality; the gap between the poor and rich is very important, and it continues to widen while also causing the economy more and more harm. This gap is killing the United States of America, and it is the government's job to help fix this problem.
Income inequality is a phenomenon that is undeniably real in our current world, and more specifically, the present United States. Canon describes how the gap between the elite and the poor has been consistently growing for many years and continues to widen (189). Whether the differences between the top and the bottom are a threat to current society is another story. Does income inequality undermine a democracy? Ray Williams argues that societies are strongest when they have a higher rate of equality while George Will challenges that inequality is the very basis of what make democratic processes. A. Barton Hinkle takes a Libertarian approach to the idea that inequality is threatening to democracy and how it can be fixed. Some threats that each article addressed were economic impacts, civility, and fairness. Overall, there is a definite need to evaluate whether the United States democracy is being threatened due to the continuous rise of the elites and the fall of the working class.