Q: Do you think we will ever shrink the disparity between the rich and the poor?
Q: Do you think we will ever shrink the disparity between the rich and the poor?
Eugene Debs began working on the railroads at age 14, and in 1893, at age 38, he founded the American Railway Union. The union dissolved after a violent strike in 1894. Debs served a six-month jail sentence for his participation in the strike and turned to radical politics soon after being released. Despite persecution for his political beliefs, Debs ran as the Socialist candidate for president five times. He collected 6 percent of the vote in 1912. The socialist doctrine demands state ownership and control of the fundamental means of production and distribution of wealth, to be achieved by reconstruction of the existing capitalist or other political system of a country through peaceful, democratic, and parliamentary means. The doctrine specifically advocates nationalization of natural resources, basic industries, banking and credit facilities, and public utilities. It places special emphasis on the nationalization of monopolized branches of industry and trade, viewing monopolies as inimical to the public welfare. Debs attitudes toward the wealth…
From the years 1875 through 1900 many organized labor unions and strikes occurred. The point of these strikes and labor unions was to eliminate such long hours and low wages that many laborers of that time had to endure. The labor unions demanded eight hour workdays. The labor unions and strikes also worked to eliminate many other hardships that laborers had. The labor unions and strikes were not successful. The only thing they really achieved was in bringing attention to the plight of the worker as well as bringing attention to child labor. However, in their demands for better wages and an eight hour workday, they were unsuccessful. Furthermore, during this time period, the companies and employers enjoyed an improvement in the methods of production in machinery, while at the same time hardly losing anything to these strikes; at most having to agree to pay a little more wages to their workers. However, the eight hour workday was not an effect of the labor unions and strikes of 1875-1900.…
The free market system of the early United States was the greatest hotbed for prosperity and opportunity that the planet had ever seen and was reliant upon a free labor market that enabled ordinary people to achieve extraordinary goals in pursuing their economic self-interest and happiness. This perspective of capitalism, epitomizing an agent of freedom and upward mobility in the early republic, is one often taken by those assessing the free citizens who achieved in their pursuit of happiness. However, in his book, Scraping By, Seth Rockman sets out to reassess these previous inclinations, associated with the economy and labor force of the United States in the 1800s, by laying out a web of conclusive research on the jobs, welfare, and social issues presented to those laborers participating in…
Modern economics have widened the gap between rich and poor in society. This gap can be illustrated by the fact that the three wealthiest individuals in the world have assets that exceed those of the poorest ten percent of the world’s population.…
Eugene V. Debs was an important figure in the history of American labor. Debs was the founder of the many different unions. Deb also ran for president several times as a third party Socialist candidate. Debs also spent time in prison for various crimes.…
Late 19th century America was a time of both industrial prosperity and poverty among workers. It was run by grasping corporations and proprietors. Workers found themselves alone, amidst the rest of the nation, merely individuals under the control of the lavish Rockefellers and Carnegies. Entire families found themselves working 10 hours a day, 7 days a week in unsanitary conditions just to have enough money to pay for simple necessities like food and rent. The issue of lowering working hours, increasing wages, and humanizing working conditions quickly became indispensable. While organized labor groups such as the National Labor Union, The Knights of Labor, and the American Federation of Labor all strived to resolve these issues, victories were seldom. The crusade towards organized labor from 1875-1900 was unsuccessful in improving the position of workers vastly because of the initial failure of strikes, the grueling feelings of superiority of employers over employees and the lack of support from the government.…
Nick Salvatore's book Eugene V. Debs Citizen and Socialist provides a very detailed account of the life and times and Eugene Debs. Debs was born in Terre Haute Indiana and Salvatore emphasizes the important role that this played in Debs upbringing. Terre Haute was ripe with religious fundamentalism from its founding. Religion permeated everyday life throughout Terre Haute. Salvatore writes that, "In newspaper editorials, political speeches, civic dedications and Sunday sermons they assured the kingdom of God had already arrived and that their town was destined to become the center of the Kingdoms Midwest development." It is striking how the ideals of the Terre Haute community based in religious fundamentalism and a strong industrial economy provided a seemingly Marxist critique of a capitalist system in the 1860's well before Marxist ideas had widely spread to America. Terre Haute's social construct was unique in that there was the undeniable American value of individual achievement stressed but here the role of community was necessary to achieve this. In Terre Haute it was believed that for individual prosperity the progress of the community as a whole was necessary. Salvatore explains this best himself writing, "The individual was firmly wedded to his community by both the bonds of daily life and by the expectations of future success. The ideas of individualism, self-interest and community appeared to meld." This seemingly socialist ideology that man relies on himself and his brethren for progress and success was critical to Debs' formation of his values and ideologies. Even the Superintendent of Terre Haute schools offered this, "If we shall limit the education of the masses and trust the education of the few for directive power and skill we must expect to be ruled by monopolies, demagogues and partisans" Throughout his life Debs constantly fell back on his Terre Hautian upbringing to reinforce his political values…
This question goes through mostly all the people’s mind in the United States now. Paul Krugman, in his article “Confronting Inequality”, explains why that differences are a problem. America's middle class is overreaching themselves in an effort to give their kids more opportunities. Many middle class are buying homes that they can't afford, so that their children will be attending a good school so that their children can have more opportunities, but on the other hand the rich society are creating their own world away from the middle class and of course That shows the growing gap between the wealthy and the poor which leads to the growing difference in social equality. In this article the author used lots of comparison methods to show the difference between the poor and the wealthy society. He also used some facts and diagrams to convince his audience with his case (Krugman…
The book, Bread and Roses by Watson gives an account of the 1912 textile workers, the strike of the workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts. This is an excellent piece of work that captures the labor history of America that many people seem to ignore. It gives an account of the plight of workers in the textiles. It shows a hard working group of masses who are ready to do whatever it takes to live better lives; to make sure they are economically stable and get whatever they want. This is all in the pursuit of the American Dream. However, the Watson shows the results of such expectations in the American Dream which are humiliating at some point. The workers in the mills are frustrated by the twist of events in the work place. Some are not willing to work and go on strike. The people’s ambitions and high expectations are met…
Although the prevailing definition of freedom at the beginning of the 20th century was narrow, because of the rise of progressivism, the definition broadened, as demonstrated by John Mitchell in “The Workingman's Conception of Industrial Liberty.” Published in 1910, a time characterized by dramatic economic growth, brought on by increased productivity, a rapid rise in population, and the growing consumer marketplace, this document reflected the feelings of many in the working-class.…
Business was thriving, the economy was growing, and life as a whole was improving. However, there was a growing minority of workingmen whose long, difficult hours of toil were being taken advantage of by greedy, selfish employers. These poor men and their malnourished, destitute families compiled the backbone of the thriving economy. Without them, production as a whole would have been at a standstill and the growing quality of life for Americans would have been dampened. Yet these hard-working people received no recognition. On the contrary, they were sorely mistreated by their employers. Threateningly, this problem was growing vaster, until finally workers began to take a stand. Did they make any impact? Did the movement last? Throughout the decades, labor unions have shaped the state of the American economy and the value of the common…
3. What are Marx’s views about the value of work in the society he describes? What is his attitude toward…
In theory, it would be nice for everyone to live a life where they had not financial hardships and poverty could be eradicated. Unfortunately, there will always be some sort of financial inequality in America as well as some form of poverty, but the solution is not income redistribution. Author Brad Thor once reasoned that,” The reason socialism has failed around the world every time it's been tried is because people in socialist countries have looked at the United States and have said if they can have it that good, we can. It's a failed, flawed ideology, but if you ask socialists why it's always failed, it's because the United States has stood in the…
Wealth inequality can be described as a lot of different things. The one that comes to mind the most though is the gap between the rich and poor. This gap is made up of a variety of different things. The one that comes to many minds is the tax code system. In order to correct the wealth gap in the United States efforts should be made to change the tax codes to close the gap between the rich and poor.…
However, it is no secret that white men make the most money in the race and gender categories. This will remain a fact for a very long time. So with such a disadvantage, how will we ever close or decrease the gap in wealth in America? It initiates a chain of events that will continue to perpetuate the inequality in race and income. A non-white professional can work as many hours, if not more, than a white person and will still not make as much money. Then as the non-white professional continues to work and struggle to make ends meet, he will be unable to save any portion of his income. He will not be able to save for retirement, an emergency fund, or to purchase a home. As the non-white professional works from check to check, he will also accumulate debt. Many times, this debt exceeds their income. Non-white families have less assets than white families because of their inability to save money. These inequalities bleed into other categories that are disparaging for non-white families. For example, non-white families have fewer assets and have more student loan debt. If there is no money saved, there is no money to purchase a car or home. In turn, not many non-white families are home owners.…