The uneven distribution of wealth in the United States is becoming a growing issue for many family households. In a country where the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, there lies many underlying economical and societal issues that people fail to notice. In the short story, "This Land is Their Land", Ehrenreich describes the ongoing issue of uneven wealth distribution across the United States. Unlike the famous folk song, “This Land Is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie, Ehrenreich's short story is titled, "This Land is Their Land", to emphasize the idea of the wealthy taking away opportunities from the poor. She begins by providing scenarios from her past experiences, then follows by addressing the problem from a large-scale perspective. …show more content…
For example, she mentions that many wealthy people “owe their wealth to the usual tricks: squeezing their employers, overcharging their customers, and polluting any land they’re not going to need for their third or fourth homes.” and “Gentrification is dispersing the urban poor into overcrowded suburban ranch houses, while billionaires’ horse farms displace rural Americans into trailer homes.(550)” Ehrenreich’s examples are demonstrate a realistic interpretation of how the rich treat the poor. Because some wealthy people become so obsessed with their social status, they become obliged to take away opportunities from the poor, thus resulting in uneven wealth distribution. Paying college tuition is another issue that reflects the issue of the rich establishing a kind of monopoly. In the United States, people from different backgrounds strive to afford education and earn a college degree. However, paying college tuition is not affordable for many people. Depending on a person’s annual household income, some people must work hard to save money, whereas others happen to afford college tuition with ease.
Paul Krugman author of the article “Confronting Inequality” stresses the inequality of our social classes in the United States, he uses statistics to demonstrate the staggering consequences of this inequality within our social classes. Krugman emphasizes the fact that a majority of our wealth is owned by about one percent of the population, which is leaving the middle and lower class at an extreme disadvantage. One example Krugman uses is education; children that have wealthy families, have a higher percentage of finishing college than those of lower income families, proving the statement that Krugman was accentuating, “Class-inherited class- usually trumps talent.” The parents within this middle to lower class have been exceed their financial
Poor people were treated very treated unequally in comparison to the rich. In the book, Lies My Teacher Told Me, Loewen writes about how poor people were offered education, but weren’t given an equal opportunity for higher education. Chapter 7 of Lies My Teacher Told Me notes that rich people were treated more fairly than the poor people, more specifically with more respect and honor especially in the classroom.
People have dreams, and sometimes those dreams can be destroyed. Many times this devastating event happens because of either money or social class. In S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, the Greasers understand and realize they belong to the working class and that mobility up the social class ladder is nearly impossible. With the money disadvantage of the working class, even the most plausible chance to move up the social class ladder cannot.
Many wealthy Americans believe that the millions of people who don’t reach their definition of success simply aren’t trying hard enough. Kristof emphasizes in his New York Times article, ‘Is a Hard Life Inherited?’ the advantage that those same wealthy Americans have over the people they judge because they were born into better families. A family that, “loved them, read stories to them, and nurtured them with Little League sports, library cards and music lessons” (1). He makes his beliefs clear when he chooses to focus on the topic of the working poor of America, highlighting the experiences of his hometown friend, Rick Goff.
American history is built on affairs regarding freedom and equality, but negative issues thought to be conquered in the past have also become present day problems. When confronting controversial social, economic, and political topics in America today, the line between fact and opinion blurs. People across the country develop their own views on national issues, based only on personal experience and what the media tells them. Whether it be intention or ignorance, Americans are not supplied with enough information to accurately confront the major, national problems that lie just inside this country’s borders. Americans are unaware of slavery and socioeconomic issues that exist around them, which in turn presents a concern when trying to combat
The total U.S. student loan debt now surpasses $1.2 trillion and there is more than 40 million recipients owing on federal and private student loans (Malone). Most of the college students in the United States can’t afford their education by themselves and, as a result, students end up drowning in student loans in order to earn a degree. Student debt is a major problem in the US, and it is a major influence on the gap between rich and poor. A more accessible college education would help reduce the gap between rich and poor in the United States.
The financial burdens that college leaves with the families and students needs to be addressed as student loans keep racking up over time. The cost of tuition for colleges has risen drastically over the years and has bounded students to only one or two college choices to choose from and at some points tearing away the opportunity to go to their dream college. However, one reason college has driven up in price is because the value it brings with it’s degrees, but it should not limit those who can not afford the worthy degree. College should be cheaper as it will ease financial burdens and broaden the choices of those wanting to attend
Mantsios’ compares the profiles of different Americans lifestyles in his text and develops the idea that an individual’s class standing can affect their livelihood in detrimental ways, “The lower one’s class standing, the more difficult it is to secure appropriate housing, the more time is spent on routine tasks of everyday life, the greater is the percentage of income that goes to pay for food and other basic necessities, and the greater is the likelihood of crime victimization” (293). Mantsios explains that one’s class standing can affect the chances of survival and success. Ehrenreich describes her own housing experiences as a low income worker. To reduce her overall costs and to obtain a second job, Ehrenreich moves closer to Key West. Ehrenreich has just enough money to pay the rent and deposit on a tiny trailer at the Overseas Trailer Park.
Some college students are working part-time jobs and are full-time students. Perhaps, working through college will not always cover all of a student's education expenses including books, supplies, room and board. If free tuition is given, students will have further time to educate themselves. Moreover, college tuition and prices are at an all-time high. Each year, prices are rising higher and higher.
Wealth and Inequality in America Inequality The inequality in America has increased over time; the gap between the rich and the poor has become a problem that many Americans don’t see. Inequality is the extent of income which is distributed unequally among the citizenry. The inequality of the United has a large gap between the poor and the rich making it unfair to the population, the rich are becoming wealthier and the poor remain poor. The article “Of the 1%, By the 1%, For the 1%”, authored by Joseph E. Stiglitz describes that there is a 1 percent amount of American’s who are consuming about a quarter of the United States income in a year.
The riches that some American experiences is just one sided story, as much as the rich people enjoy their day to day life, the less unfortunate people suffered twice as much. Living in unsanitary, cramped places and worked in harmful environment just to be able to provide meals for their family. The contrasting lives of the two is just calamitous. Jacob Riis, a New York City journalist published, How the Other Half Lives (1890), “…vividly described the squalor he saw, he documented it with photography, giving readers an unflinching view of urban poverty” (The American Yawp, Ch.20-2). Showing them the lives of how the less unfortunate people lives and the poor conditions they lived in.
American Literature often addressed problems that were occurring within the United States. Some American authors tackled grievances regarding gender inequality and racism, while others wrote about the American Dream and wealth. In today’s society, a lot of these ideas still exist but some are more prevalent than others. The idea of the American Dream has long been a vision for Americans as well as people moving into the country: They have the thought that hard work grants success or wealth. However, this idea is slowly meeting its demise, as the gap between the rich and poor continues to increase.
Title Economic inequality was created. Lots of factors lead to the long-standing social inequality, such as gender, ethnicity, age, level of education and so on. How would people split up income between the top ten percent and the rest if it were up to them? It depends on which group they belong to. They strive for more benefit for themselves.
Have you ever owed someone $20? Well, imagine owing someone $100,000+ . Many students every year are left in crippling debt that can affect them for the next few decades of their life. Because of the cost of college, many students fresh out of high school can’t go to college. In order to make it easier for the lower-class to go to college, you should do at least one of the following things.
After the end of World War II, most of the world was in ruins, and the United States became the forefront of economic production. However, the government had come into even more control of common lives, and people were losing the last of their self-sufficiency and being able to function independently and support themselves, locking the population into the economic system that continues today while still falsely promising them riches. The idea had become cemented that poor people were poor for a reason and that anyone, if they were talented or motivated enough, could become rich. This belief persisted despite the truth that “poor” people were neither truly poor nor to blame for their circumstances, in most cases. However, this process had not yet completed itself until much later after World War II.