Growing up in the 1990s, I was always told that the middle class was the backbone of the American economy. The middle class was even more prominent from the 1940s to the 1980s. Factory jobs, mom and pop shops, and small businesses were everywhere and it was quite easy to get a job. “In the mid-60s, you could figuratively roll out of bed and find a manufacturing job” (McClelland 552). Unfortunately, this is no longer true; blue collar, middle class jobs are increasingly more difficult to find. In Edward McClelland’s article, “RIP, the Middle Class 1946-2013,” Edward blames the government for not being more involved instead of leaving the free market sustain the middle class. I agree with his position whole heartedly. The dwindling middle class that used to be the backbone of the American economy is the direct effect of the stepping to the side and not being involved enough in the…
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…
For as long most people can remember, the middle class has been the economic majority in the United States. In Edward McClelland's article "RIP, the Middle Class: 1946-2013", McClelland argues the sooner than later, the middle class will be merely nonexistent and the economy will only consist of rich and poor. He casually explains to middle class American citizens what the past middle class looked like, how the middle class stands now, and some hardships that people of the recession experienced. Growing up in the 1970's, McClelland describes how someone didn't need to graduate high school to obtain a job that could support a family, but now, in the twenty-first century, even with a high school diploma and four years of college education, no well paying jobs are promised. In this article,…
As the middle-class cut its social ties to the wage earners, their authority began to diminish over issues of morality, sobriety, and productivity. Revival religion became a solution for the middle-class in attempts to resolve the problems of class and order during the early stages of the market revolution. Through the influence of religious revival, there was a strong push for work discipline and adjustments in social behavior. The middle class believed that promoting religious revival to the young, uneducated and rowdy wage laborers would be an effective “social control” tool to discipline the workforce. “A free society must teach men to govern themselves, and there is no greater inducement to self-restraint than belief in God” (136). These…
“Why Are Americans So Easy to Manipulate” is an article written by Bruce E. Levine about big corporations using behavior modification techniques to manipulate people into using their products. Levine is a clinical psychologist, an author, and a social critic from New York City. He graduated from Queens of the City University of New York and received his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Cincinnati. Levine is also on the editorial board for the journal Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry. (Bruce Levine Bio) Levine develops an argument to inform the middle and lower class Americans about the behavior modification techniques that big corporations use to manipulate them.…
In “Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore”, Frank shows the influences in Americans’ lives in different classes by the disparity between the rich and the poor. He arouses people’s consciousness for the “rising inequality” which is being polarized and has been causing immense damages to Americans, no matter which class they are. It is true that the “Income Inequality” in America is very obvious and affecting more and more people. Indeed, “we should just agree that it’s a bad thing”, however, are we able to do something concrete to deal with it effectively? Is the” rising inequality really required in the name of fairness”? I stand neutral towards Frank’s opinion.…
As Barack Obama’s second term presidency comes to an end, a new chapter begins for America with a new president. One of the most powerful presidential candidate running is Bernie Sanders. According to Sanders, America is suffering from a lack of infrastructure, low minimum wages, and just an overall crippled system that denotes the inequality in Americans. He can implement so many injections and programs to alleviate the tensions that is widening the gap between the rich and the poor and even males and females each and every day. The solution to him is easy: create more jobs to drive GDP up and spur economic growth, raise minimum wage, and restore Democracy back to its full extent.…
The gap between the upper class and everyone else widens to a point where the richest “4,000 families in the U.S” have as much wealth as “11.6 million…
In the essay “Inequality Has Been Going on Forever... but That Doesn’t Mean It’s Inevitable”, David Leonhardt argues that despite the persistent trend of income inequality in the U.S. and throughout history, it is not impossible to change that inequality. He writes that the professor, Thomas Piketty points out the process in which inequality rises and the near inevitability of it. Leonhardt tells of his conversations with Piketty and Piketty’s idea on the possible way to solve inequality, which is to put a global wealth tax that is specifically for income inequality. Leonhardt finds this solution politically improbable and instead advises that the government changes the taxation of the wealthy, healthcare, how we manage the Department of Transportation,…
With nearly 99% of America’s wealth going to the top 1% (or estimated to be by 2016), how can there be even the slightest argument for a peaceful nation where all are intermingled in a way that creates equality? The proven statistic of America’s wealth distribution is not equal to any other developed country of the same stature. There’s even more proof and evidence for the “So clear it shouldn’t have to be proven“ wealth inequality in America. Using a scale called the Gini coefficient to calculate wealth inequality the results were (not exactly) surprising, “[The Gini coefficient is] a measure of inequality in which 0 is perfect equality and 100 perfect inequality. It found that the U.S. had the greatest wealth inequality, with a score of 80.56” (Sherman). A nation with a significant divide such as wealth inequality - and thus the lack of the wealth going to the majority- cannot possibly be perfect, just, or…
Some people feel the rich do not pay their fair share in taxes. “The 95th/50th ratio in 2011 was $186,000 divided by $50,054, which equals 3.72. In other words, the income of houses in the 95th percentile was 3.72 times the income of households in the 50th percentile. Those in the top 25th percentile obtained a vast majority of the income in America (79.5% in 2007 and 75.9% in 2010.” (Evans, “Wealth”). This does prove that wealth is not evenly distributed among all Americans, which is an understandable thing to be upset…
In 1958, a man named George Mowry explains s economic, social, and political divisions of the progressivism movement. The progressivism movement ties in a lot with our society today and shows how history does indeed repeat itself. Mowry describes the good, and bad of progressivism, but emphasizes the bad. Mowry is really trying to exhibit the differences between capitalism and socialism in his essay and explain why progressivism is not good for the well being and future of America, which can be proven today but our economic instability and division as a nation. More importantly however Mowry displays how progressives try to create, “heaven on earth” by their moral actions.…
To a wealthy individual, the high standard of living is to be comfortable which they already are, while the typical person struggles to feel at ease trying to make ends meet. In The New Yorkers article “The Mobility Myth” by James Surowiekcki it states “Raising living standards for ordinary workers is hard: you need to either get wages growing or talk about things that scares politicians, like “redistribution” and “taxes”. But making it easier for some Americans to move up the economic ladder is no great triumph if most can barely hold.” (Surowiekcki 92). This particular quote from the article demonstrates how unduly the standards of living are. United States representatives are determined to change the basic living standards to a high standard of living for those who can afford it. This makes it even harder, for those who are barely making ends meet. By doing so, this illustrates that America expects too much from people who can barely afford to live here. Equal access to public goods isn’t optional. Public goods are a commodity or service that is provided without profit to all members of a society, either by the government or a private individual or organization. The article “The Decline of the American Public Goods” by Robert Reich it states “The slide really started more than three decades ago with so-called “tax revolts” by a middle class whose earnings had stopped advancing even though the economy continued to grow. Most families still wanted good public services and institutions but could no longer afford the tab. From that time onward, almost all the gains from growth have gone to the top. But as the upper middle class and the rich began shifting to private institutions, they withdrew political support for public ones. In consequence, their marginal tax rates dropped — setting off a vicious cycle of…
1. The Middle Income Trap is an economic development situation in which a country that has attained a certain income (due to given advantages such as cheap labour and natural resources) gets stuck at that level without graduating toward high-income status.…
At first glance, nothing seems to have changed at One Utama, a sprawling shopping mall on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. Finding a vacant spot in the cavernous parking lot is as hard as it was a year ago. Inside, young Malaysian couples shop for groceries and kitchenware, while gawky teenagers queue outside a cinema multiplex showing Titanic. The coffee bistro is doing steaming business, and gizmo-aficionados are trying out the latest Palm Pilots.…