“A man can be rich, but only a nation can be wealthy. And if anyone suffers from poverty, our whole country bears the shame.” (Mosley para. Intro) In the article “Show Me the Money” by Walter Mosley, he talks about the three economic classes, who makes up these classes, and what defines them. The upper class, middle or working class, and the poor or poverty class. Where does all the money the rich get come from? It comes from the blood, sweat, and tears of the working middle class. The question we are faced with is, “are his definitions fair?” We will define wealthy, middle, working, and poor or poverty classes. How does someone know where they fit into the class system? Is it their education or the job they have? Or maybe is it if they have their own business? …show more content…
The top of the top; they acquire all the money their businesses amass and flaunt it on huge homes, fancy cars, and expensive possessions and European vacations. They are seen as greedy; some don’t keep their money; however, they seldom give it to charity organizations. As a result, they have received a lot of hate and distrust over the years. There are some that believe the mega-rich should be taxed at a higher percentage than the other classes, yet with deductions, they often pay less. In an article “Stop Coddling the Super-Rich”, by Warren Buffet, he suggests the mega rich should be taxed more than the middle and lower class, but again, they have more deductions and will still pay
They draw their conclusion from Karl Marx’s view of class and societies. Outside forces prevent groups or individuals from reaching certain goals or ways of living. That outside force is typically the upper class. The upper class have created an exclusive society for themselves that lock in their wealth at the expense of everyone else’s well-being. For example the CEO of Wal Mart, Michael Duke receives a $35 million yearly salary.
In this article by Sean Mcelwee(2014) he talks about why income inequality is the toughest issue America will face in the next few decades. In the article, Why income inequality is America’s biggest (and most difficult) problem, Mcelwee(2014) believes that after the studies he has seen, the most effective way to solve the policy issue of income inequality is by higher taxes on income and wealth. However, the rich would never buy into this solution, because it would take more of their wealth, when the wealthy are trying to maximize their money returns. Mcelwee (2014) also talks about how when a family is wealthy, money tends to stay in the family for 10-15 generations, which is also true for families with lower incomes as stated here by
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
Wealthy people today bribe politicians in order to reduce their taxes and this is referenced in a quote by Warren Buffett, “These and other blessings are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us.” Buffett claims that an investor that earn billions per day can get a bargain of fifteen percent of tax interest, which is much less than the thirty three to forty one percent interest for the middle class. Similarly, some of the Gilded Age’s policies benefit the wealthy. For instance, because of the exploitation,workers united and striked against the cruelty. However, employers appealed for court orders against unions because the federal government denied unions recognition as legally protected organization.
Income inequality The article “Confronting Inequality,” written by Paul Krugman, a professor at Princeton University, emphasizes that the middle class suffers from social inequality and economic inequality. Krugman suggests building a stronger safety net so the gap between the poor and rich can be limited to by raising of the taxes. Krugman uses this claim to highlight the fact that the middle class needs to be stronger and the only way to achieve that is to have a strong safety net. Krugman says the rich use loopholes in the tax system to cheat their way out of high taxes, and the poor pay a relatively high tax compared to what they should be paying.
The reading that caught my eye was “Who Rules America? The Corporate Community and the Upper Class” by G. William Domhoff. Domhoff wanted to argue that the upper class was not just one intertwining unit, but that the upper class also contains power by controlling economic and political decisions regarding our country. To gain better insight on his argument, Domhoff collected various types of data from reliable people on how the upper class go about their lives, and how their lives can directly and indirectly affect America. Domhoff started by talking about social class in general in America.
The largest if not only factor of class is wealth; how much income a family gets. To disprove the myths many more realities are listed. The first being, “There are enormous differences in economic status of American citizens. ”(334). Perhaps the most important reality states, “From cradle to grave, class standing has a significant impact on our chances of survival.
America, the land of equity, has the largest ratio of rich citizens to poor citizens at 12:1. Compared to Japan and Germany’s measly 4:1, this information is outrageous. America is shown to have the most skewed economic pyramid when denoting the amount of people on each side of the economic slide. The selection, Class in America - 2006, an academic paper by Gregory Mantsios, argues the existence and magnitude of class and economic standing in the United States; through the use of fact and opinion, he creates the visual of a society severely divided by economic standing. Gregory Mantsios effectively convinces the audience of the differences in class sanding that cause a significant impact in the lives of americans and economic spectrum with his use of logos, anticipation, and credible evidence.
There is lower, middle, and upper class, but there are also subcategories that fill the gaps in between, like the impoverished and the top one percenters. “Class in America”, written by Gregory Mantsios, addresses the myths and realities about socioeconomic class in America and how they affect American lives. His article highlights the unequal divide that has persisted over the course of history and will continue to manifest in the future. To introduce the existence of this issue, Mantsios states that this country’s citizens “don’t like to talk about class...or class privileges, or class oppression, or the class nature of society” (Mantsios 378). This is the case in America today because people are neglecting to acknowledge the existence of these elusive
The article says, “While the top 1 percent have seen their incomes rise 18 percent over the past decade, those in the middle have actually seen their incomes fall.” (Stiglitz 2011) While the rich are getting higher incomes prices the poor are getting higher income by taking it from the one in the middle which therefore, makes them get a lower income percentage. America has fallen behind because of not being an equal country to the population by the income equality there is a huge gap between the income being earned by the poor and the rich. The rich are wealthy and the poor depend on the government for everything. As stated in the article, “America lags behind any country in the old, ossified Europe that President George W. Bush used to deride.
Based on a video of Wealth Inequality in America, “ The richest (1 percent) is now (2012) taking up almost a quarter (24%) of the national income home; in 1976 they took home only 9%; meaning their share of income has tripled between 30 years.” *add where quote is from*“CEO’s of major corporations earn nearly 300 times more than an average worker.” How is it possible that a CEO earns multiple times more than a regular
I think heritage, circumstances, and choices all define a person’s social class. For starters, one of the reasons for social classes in America is heritage. Since the very beginning of the United States, people have divided themselves into different groups and ways of living based on their status. For example, someone born into a certain class, grows up surrounded by, and expecting what they have lived with.
The upper class get better food and products than the working class that is actually helping the country grow. The upper class controls what is given to the lower class and even cuts down on what or how much the lower classes get, “It appeared that
Many people are strongly debating whether or not the rich should pay higher taxes. I believe it should be that the rich do pay higher taxes. When times in the economy are rough, the government needs to look consider at how they could bring in more money. Charging the wealthy higher taxes could be a strategy the government could use., and the wealthy people are the ones who could afford it.
Why must the rich pay more tax to help the poor? Although taxing more on rich seems unfair for the rich, it is necessary that rich people should pay more tax and the amount they pay are based on their incomes. First of all, the important reason that can be presented is that the rich people have utilized the public system more. As Elizabeth Warren said, "There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody.”