Stiglitz: The Inequality Of American Society

Essay Comparison
In the two essays, the main theme is inequality where the American society is highly stratified based on class. In both cases, the members of the lower class are unlikely to realize their ambitions not because they do not have the capacity, but because the ruling class does not give them an opportunity to do so. In his essay, Stiglitz observes, “Americans have been watching protests against oppressive regimes that concentrate massive wealth in the hands of an elite few. Yet in our own democracy, 1 percent of the people take nearly a quarter of the nation’s income—an inequality even the wealthy will come to regret” (748). On his part, Singer is bitter with Bob for loving material wealth instead of caring much about human life.
In his view, individuals should consider donating some of their wealth to humanitarian organizations such as UNICEF that take care of children. Singer concludes that people are not living up to their moral obligations of taking care of other humanity. His views are similar to those of Stiglitz because they both complain about the American culture which only promotes individualism with little emphasis on the welfare of other people. However, the difference between the two is the best way of approaching the situation. Singer asserts, “knowing where we are going is the first step in heading in that direction” (905). This means that the society had to be accommodative and acknowledge the importance of every person. In world full of diversity, each person has a role to play within the social hierarchy. For Stiglitz, the government should facilitate this by providing an enabling environment for individual fulfilment. Not only that, the government has to come up with strategies to adjust the current social structure to reflect the reality. Stiglitz laments that about one percent of the American society live a quality life whereby they take in close to one-quarter of the country’s annual income. Besides, they control at least forty-percent of the societal
For Stiglitz, the American government has to intervene strongly to prevent the rich from preying on the poor by using their labour without proper compensation. In fact, according to the author, the rich should be held responsible for the welfare of the poor because their survival depends on the ninety-nine percent poor population. Without them, the products of the rich would lack markets and they would not have sufficient labour. If the situation is not addressed, Stiglitz suggests a revolution to kick out the elite government that serves as a committee of the ruling class since it does not exist to fulfil the wishes and the desires of the poor. On his part, Singer simply urges Americans to help each other because it is the morally upright thing to do. The help should be mutual and no person should be forced to do so. His focus is on helping the children who are dying of hunger. The rich should engage in corporate social responsibility by setting aside some funds to finance the programs aimed at helping the poor without