Wealth Inequality

James Madison once stated inequality of the rich and poor predicament to be “evil” and believed that the government should avoid an “immoderate, and especially unmerited, accumulation of riches” (Johnston, 2016). As one of the founding fathers of our nation, James Madison had a concern about the separation between the rich and the poor. He felt the government should do what it could to avoid the separation, which one can infer that he meant for the government to tax the rich by a greater percentage, thus reducing the financial burden on the poor. A rift has always been present between the rich and the poor throughout history. Depending upon the job, the working class may or may not make enough to support a family. At this point, the

Stiglitz identifies dwindling opportunity, monopoly power and tax treatment, and the investments of the government as the effects from manipulating the economy to exclusively benefit the top 1%. The societal impact becomes clear when the author states that the ultimate price is the “erosion of our sense of identity,” which includes “fair play, equality of opportunity, and a sense of community” because a majority of people realize the importance of these topics related to the success of themselves and their country (Stiglitz, “Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%”). The article concludes with the significance of paying attention to common welfare as a “precondition for one’s own ultimate well-being” that the top 1% have a history of failing to grasp before meeting their

In Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore, Robert H. Frank paints a picture to the reader about the struggles of pier pressure. For example: an upper-classmen chooses to buy a big house and fancy clothing. This acts as a “frame of reference” to the changes and norms of the society. If he spends money on something nice, a middle-classmen will then go and decide to do the same thing, and then a lower-classmen…all the way down the social hierarchy. This is what he calls an “expenditure cascade.” Robert relates this with a person’s downfalls, which can be traced due to lower income inequality. Income inequality basically means that in a given quantity, the dispersion of income is underlined by the gap between individuals and or households with

According to Inequality.org, “We equate wealth with ‘net worth,’ the sum total of your assets minus liabilities. Assets can include everything from an owned personal residence and cash in savings accounts to investments in stocks/bonds, real estate, and retirement accounts. Liabilities cover what a household owes: a car loan, credit card balance, student loan, mortgage, or any other bill yet to be paid. In the United States, wealth inequality runs even more pronounced than income inequality” (Wealth). Wealth disparity affects everyone in America. When the top twenty percent of earners in America take over fifty percent of total earnings in any given year, It can be see as very unfair by anyone who is in the middle class and especially the lower class of citizens in the U.S. It is safe to say that both sides of the political world (Republicans and Democrats) are equally worried about how economic inequality will affect their children and future generations. No matter who you ask, rich or poor, and whatever their opinion on the shape of economic distribution in America is, they most likely have a unrealistic sense of the state it is actually in.

In any given population, there is a difference between what people within the population earn. The uneven distribution of income in any given population is income inequality. In order for there to be income, there has to be several sources of income. These sources of income may be combinational or independent per person receiving the income. Income may result from wages, rent, bank account interests, salaries or even profits made in business transactions ( Stiglitz, 2012).

The difference of income and workers conditions has been a timeless conflict present throughout history of the United States. In the past workers were faced with deadly work conditions and around the clock hours for little pay. These unjust conditions dramatically increased during the Industrial Revolutions that the United States experienced in the nineteenth century. The latter period of industrialization produced the organization of the first labor unions in the Country, namely the Knights of Labor established in 1869 and the American Federation of Labor established in 1886. In present day countless unions exist, and are a lot less needed than they were in the early industrial days of the United States (Brinkley, 2012).

In the 21st century, the American media has portrayed the wealth inequality in the United States in a very black and white way. Poverty has become an ongoing problem and has accelerated the appalling wealth divide. In 2010, the poverty rate in the U.S. reached fifteen percent which was the highest it had reached in almost two decades. Obligations to providing equality and adequate living conditions have been removed; there is no more “moral code or ethical principle” that can be used to contradict this growing American atrocity. On one side of the spectrum there is the upper class, the esteemed one percent of the social hierarchy in our country; however, on the other side there is the desolate and extreme poor that are constantly being used

The wealth gap, or wealth inequality, is the uneven distribution of wealth within the United States. The gap in the United States is one of the largest gaps between the rich and the poor out of most developed countries. The wealth gap is impossible to ignore when “income inequality has been increasing steadily since the 1970s, and now has reached levels not seen since 1928.” (D. Desilver, 2013)

The wealth gap should not be allowed to continue because, by letting the wealth gap continue, people are turning themselves into slaves. People's perceptions on the subject are secured by what is reality. There are solutions to make the wealth gap shrink but it will take education and the commitment of everyone. Who is affected by the wealth gap? If the gap was to shrink who would benefit from it? Wealth inequality is wrong but it can be fixed with education.

The economics video is an infographic video that addresses the major inequality of wealth in America. The overall theme of the video clip is that the top 10% of the people in America have and produce way more money than the poorest Americans, which makes up the majority of the population. There is basically not bias in the video, other than that the video creator does not talk about the poor people as if he is one, and he does not talk about the upper class as if he in in the upper class. Depending how the viewer perceives the information there could be a positive or mainly negative bias. The video maker made this video to bring awareness to what people say the ideal wealth inequality should be, what people believe the wealth distribution inequality

Stiglitz first suggests that we improve access to education. He writes that “opportunity is shaped, more than anything else, by access to education” (344), and improving access to education and the quality of education available is the most effective way to enhance the life of an individual. Stiglitz goes on to suggest that we make changes to tax system that helps ordinary Americans save. In previous chapter of this book, we learned that wealth inequality is much worse than income inequality, and most people will be surprised to see how little in savings the average American family has. Stiglitz proposes the creation of “government incentives for the poor to save” (345) that would over time “help create a fairer society.” Stiglits goes on to write about improvement that can be made to our health care system. Stiglitz claims that “the problem with our health care system is not that we spend too much; it’s that we don’t get value for our money, and too many people don’t have access to health

In reality, it is not the economy, but how the economy’s rules are set up that determines who benefits from the wealth generated. For instance, any one of the ten wealthiest individuals in America made enough money in 2012 to pay the cost of individual housing for every homeless person in America for an entire year. Upon comparing 141 different countries, the United States ranked 4th-highest in wealth inequality, with only Ukraine, Lebanon and Russia having a more polar distribution of wealth. These statistics would not present a problem if only Americans could work their way up the socioeconomic ladder. Despite their efforts, however, much of the data shows that upward mobility is improbable if not impossible in many cases.

This article discusses the wealth inequalities and social status differences between several slave communities throughout the Caribbean. The article examines various social structures and privileges afforded to slaves from the mid to late 1700’s. The slaves who worked on sugar plantations were often granted privileges and were considered to be of elite status. In comparison, slaves who were not located on sugar plantations were treated inhumanely, starved, regularly beaten and often worked to death.

Income inequality has been a major issue in American history. There are many different factors that contribute to inequality. These include education, wealth, discrimination, ability, and monopoly power.

Many of our pop stars are wealthy as most people know. But the amount of money they get, is causing major complications to our countries citizens and states. Most are things we don’t even think about in our everyday lives. The situation is causing an increase in poverty and rate crime, also a decrease of health in citizens.