After watching the video, "Wealth Inequality in America", published by Politizane, I was surprised when finding out that only the top one percent of America has 40 percent of all the nation's wealth. It was also surprising to discover that the top one percent owns half the country's stocks, bonds, and mutual bonds, while the bottom 50 percent of Americans own only half a percent of these investments. One of the notions I had that was challenged by the video was the amount of money the wealthy actually have compared to the rest of the classes. I was aware that wealth mostly distributed to the wealthy class, but I never imagined that the division between the wealthy class and the rest of the classes would be so huge. Its incredible that the CEO's…
Today America is one of the richest countries in the world, however over half of it geos to those in our country who already own so much of the wealth. Today The United States’ wealth distribution has a greater gap between the exceedingly wealthy and the rest of the citizens than it has in nearly the past decade. “There is something profoundly wrong when the top one-tenth of one percent owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent,” believes Bernie Sanders. One of Bernie’s main platforms is redistribution of wealth and reduction in income along with wealth inequality. As a country filled with the obnoxiously rich our childhood poverty rate is among the highest of all of the developed countries. We work longer for lower wages than other countries and we shouldn’t have to. Bernie Sanders is looking to over double federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour all the way to $15 an hour. He believes that no home with a working family member spending 40 hours a week on the job should be stuck living below the poverty line.…
1. In this piece, the three figures are being used to illustrate inequality in America history including black Americans, women, and immigrants. In every figure, the author discussed in detail of what made them look or feel inferior to normal people. The time period stretched from the 18th to 19th century.…
Over the last decade, income inequality has become one of the most important issues in the U.S. and a subject of a lot of debate. There is a prevalent idea in the society that the wealth inequality in United States is currently at the highest level in the history after steadily raising for a number of decades. The financial crisis is said to have contributed to this significant gap between the top 1% and everybody else. People view it as an inherently negative thing, and fight hard to promote the equality and income redistribution. This paper examines the causes of inequality; the relationship between wealth inequality and economic growth and the hypothesis on how policy measures can be designed to mitigage the income disparity both in U.S. and in the rest of the world. The researh is based on the theory that inequality is an essential aspect of an efficient free market economy that adversely affects economic growth when in excess.…
Krugman suggests that we take the United States economy for granted, he thinks that extreme inequality is an “inevitable byproduct of robust economic growth in a globalized age are not inevitable at all”. Political choices not economic laws, have helped form the United States to become a world superpower and a nation of the very rich, the very poor and an increasingly fragile middle class. His approach to how society should handle these social and economic probelms is for the people to take back the goverment and make society equal again. He supports the idea of a “new, new deal” but thinks that the government is run by a movement that is dedicated to policies that are against most Americans' interests, and must try to compensate for that…
In the United States, the top ten percent of all households own seventy-six percent of all the wealth in the country (1). Income inequality is frequently highlighted, but why is wealth inequality rarely brought to our attention? The political system has failed to deal with the problem, and the gap will only continue to grow in the future. How can we call this the land of opportunity when the bottom forty percent will most likely stay the bottom forty percent for their entire lives (1)? That is why I offer a modest proposal to overthrow the current system and establish a Utopian society built from the rubble. This Utopia, which I shall refer to as the United Socialist States of America (USSA), is going to be built around the premise of economic equity through the equal distribution of resources and knowledge. This would create a society without greed because money is the ultimate…
Income inequality means that there is no equality between people. Also, there are big differences between the rich and everyone else. This problem grows year after year. Some people become poor and other become rich. The American Dream is related to income because everyone who wants to achieve the American Dream must have a great income. Rich and poor people are all human beings, but poor people have stolen money from each other because they do not have a great experience to get money. Rich people have great experience in business because they received from his or her family, also they study in great school and university. In addition, education is one of the greatest things to have the huge income. People who study in higher education will…
Inequality is the lack of equality amongst a society. An inequity is a lack of fairness and justice. The terms are often used interchangeably not only among John Rawls, but also in society. Equality and Equity in the United States of America is a current big topic. Are minorities in America experiencing a lack of equality, equity, or both? Does everyone truly have basic freedoms, or some more than others?…
President Obama called widening income inequality the “defining challenge of our time”. The political firestorm created from perceived economic inequality is an increasingly vexing problem in the United States. The belief, that the richest citizens use their power and privilege by abusing the most vulnerable with impunity, as think tank philosophers feed mob rule passions for equality through “divide and conquer” Machiavellianism. Consequently, allowing the government and wealthy individuals to subvert the republican government by maneuvering regulations narrowly towards oligarchic or autocratic directions. Ultimately, delivering economic wealth to corporate or even foreign powers. What is the basic, the essential, the crucial principle that differentiates freedom from slavery? Derek Thompson’s Barack Obama, Inequality Fighter feeds the Baconian type notion that income inequality is purely factual while dismissing the economic freedom principle of voluntary action over regulatory coercion.…
The world always been an unequal place. Today, people are treated for not who they are, but for their religious background, race, gender and financial status. Inequality in the United States of America is present in a highest level. America is a country that reunites all seven continents in itself, moreover, it is possible to find people from various backgrounds here. However, not all of these people are treated equally. It is disappointing to see that how everyone is classified in this country. Indeed, if there is a crime the suspect must be a black male, if there is a terroristic attack or threat then the suspect is most likely to be a Muslim, if there is a robbery the suspect will be an illegal immigrant from Mexico. The root of this problem comes from the past century where people were judged by the color of their skin and this problem…
The clash of inequality has created a major lack of opportunity for any American citizen seeking to reach above the standard of life. A common misconception related to the problem of inequality is the American…
When we hear the word “America” we often think of independence, opportunity, and success. Equal opportunity can be defined as every individual granted a fair chance and should be treated the same. The opportunity should overlook religion, race, sex, ethnicity, etc. For the last couple of weeks, we’ve been studying the nature of inequality and how it’s had a negative impact on society. From the outside looking in, it seems as if America is the land of equal opportunity, however, that is not accurate. The United States is not the land of equal opportunity. People of different races have to fight daily for fair opportunities. Inequality affects the ability of people who wants to improve the standards of their lives and contribution to society.…
If people aren’t earning enough a lot of money, all they need to do is work harder they’ll get ahead.…
The word “opportunity” is defined as the circumstance available to achieve one’s goals. It is a word that is especially applicable to America; the idea of America as nation where anybody has the opportunity to succeed is so embedded into the American identity that “opportunity” has transcended its dictionary definition. It has become an intrinsic part of the American Dream, a word ingrained with the history of many generations. To many, America is often considered the land of opportunity; from the earliest colonizers, who sailed across the Atlantic Ocean for religious freedom and economic gains, to pioneers who traveled in wagon trains to the American west in pursuit of gold and land, to immigrants throughout history who have come to America for a better life. America has always been seen as a place where people can strive to improve their lot in life, as long as they had the determination and perseverance to do so. Despite this idealistic image of America, however, it is not always supported in reality. We should aim to appreciate, to strive for, to live the ideal that hard work leads to success, but we should also acknowledge…
Dear president Curtis Jackson, right now the U.S. has become to unequal which will cause many problems in the future. There are many studies about the inequality that exist among citizens which will lead to the collapse of our civilization. Through sociology these inequalities are about power and wealth between social classes which are developed through social stratification. Also, since we are a post-industrial society people are also separated by race in some ways especially around the time of the civil war. In Americas history the Great Depression was probably the closest that we came to an economic collapse.…