1. Introduction The welfare state is one of the cornerstones of modern day life in most western countries. This fact has prompted a relative extensive literature and research field on how welfare states acts and evolves. One of the more prominent topics of this research agenda, has been why some countries redistribute more than others, a conclusive answer is yet to be found but most of the work on the subject starts with the premise of the Meltzer-Richard(1981) model, which entails that the democratic institutions empower the lower classes whom stand to benefit most from more redistribution. This results in what is called the median voter theorem, which states that given a typical right-skewed distribution of income, the median voter will seek redistribution to the point where the costs outweigh the benefits. …show more content…
Following the logic above, it should expected that the countries with the less inequality also redistribute less, but this is clearly not the case, in fact the opposite seems to be true (Moene and Wallerstein, 2001). It would seem that the theoretical foundation of the Meltzer-Richard model is too limited in contemporary welfare societies. It gives no explanation to how or when government coalitions between the different parties stabilize and when they
Based on freedom and equality, America is today the country the most unequal amongst developed countries. Today there is a very big difference between the ideal, what Americans think and the reality of the income distribution. There is only a very small share in the middle class. This is a major crisis in the United States indeed, 1 per cent of the rich have 40 per cent of the country’s wealth.
The argument in this chapter is focused around how income inequality has caused voters to demand policies that redistribute income and wealth downward from the wealthy. This has been caused by a few different things according to the authors. Data shows that voters and nonvoters have a significant difference in income. This is because the bottom of income distribution consists of poor immigrants who aren’t citizens and have no voting rights. There was an explosion in immigration from poorer countries.
Economic inequality is the uneven distribution of wealth and differences in economic security found in each individual in a specific country or region. Today, the topic is being discussed profusely by the American presidential candidates and by many writers around the world because of the beliefs of whether there should or should not be wealth redistribution policies put into action. Larry Schwartz, the author of “35 Soul-Crushing Facts about American Income Inequality”, makes a valid claim that economic inequality is the foundation of the problems that the entire American population face such as poverty and a hindrance of economic growth. To begin with, Schwartz has an exceptional argument that the high rate of economic inequality, like is
In order to live equal, we have to revise the tax policy to where it fits everyone. The amount of money they take from the middle class it affects them. They have worked hard and cannot wait until “tax time” to receive their money. The market inequality also affects our society and has to be changed.
I do believe that distribution and wealth is definitely unfair. It is only common sense. Why would you take more away from those who are barely making it? It does not benefit the 99 percent at
Furthermore, an article written by Robert Rector, Katherine Bradley, and Rachel Sheffield for the Heritage Foundation, states that all means-tested from federal and state sources combined were $956 billion. This $956 billion in annual welfare spending is distributed among as many as 100 million people which average about $9,500 per beneficiary. I am in agreement with the article in Discover the Networks intitled; “The Welfare States’s cost to American Taxpayers” that says, “If converted entirely to cash, these benefits equal more than five times the amount of money needed to lift every poor person in the United States out of poverty” (2012). The Federal Income Tax returns filed in the United States is approximately 143 million.
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.
Many solutions, such as social investment, early childhood education, job training for young adults are avenues for addressing the shrinking middle class. Many of these ideas have been around since the 1990s, and most know that they will work, however, no one wants to pay the cost of such social investments. Thus, this is a fine example of how one topic, income inequality, can be addressed from two different angles, that of economist and that of sociologists, and what contributes to the inequality can be supported based on what is actually measured. In this specific comparison, due to the differences in disciplines addressing the same issue, the variables measured are completely different and as a result, yield very different results.
Abusing the System Ronald Reagan states, “We should measure welfare’s success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many are added” (qtd. in BrainyQuotes). Welfare’s success today is not being measured by how many people are leaving welfare, but how many are needing assistance. The problem is that recipients of welfare are being added by the minute, and none of them are willing to leave the program because of the benefits it provides. The United States Constitution states the federal government should provide for the common defense and promote the general welfare, but the case is that many recipients are abusing the program (Couch np). Welfare abuse is increasing greatly.
During the late 1980’s Ronald Reagan wanted to advocate self-independence and advancement. He believed too that he needed to sign into the law of welfare bill. Regan stated “reform that will lead to lasting emancipation from welfare dependency” (Davies, 1). Unfortunately, the welfare reform didn’t get its message through which was to promote self-responsibility and self-support. During the 1960 and 1970 the ideals of liberalism were not spoken about.
Nowadays, there is a huge gap of income and wealth inequality in the U.S. and that means the richer people are super rich while bottom people are struggling for basic living standard. There are some direct and explicit statistics from Inequality for All graphic package from which we can tell the phenomenon. In 2010, the typical 1% people earn 33 times of typical male workers but in 1978 the ratio is tenth comparing the male workers with the “1%” people. Also, it says “Today, the top 400 richest people have more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans put together” (Inequality for All). This shows considerable wealth of the U.S. is controlled in the minority people, which is totally unlike the period of 1950s through 1980s.
Peter Singer article propels capable explanations behind willful redistribution: Many individuals in America are poor, and the change in their lives that wealthier individuals can realize by giving cash is huge by examination with the little give up this would include. An avocation for lessening disparity through non-willful means, for example, tax assessment, needs to clarify why redistribution of this kind is not simply robbery. Inequality is important to urge business people to go for broke and set up new business. Without the possibility of considerable prizes, there would be minimal motivation to go out on a limb and put resources into new business opportunities. Trickle Down Effect.
1. Introduction Income inequality has grown significantly during this past decades and this phenomenon continues to increase over the years. This problem is constantly discussed in the daily news all around the world. Several consequences of this increase of inequality between people leads to economic problems such as high unemployment rates, lack of work for young people, fall of demand for certain product. The gap between rich and poor is increasing, the rich are richer and the poor are poorer as a result politicians and economists try to adopt certain policies in order to reduce this gap.
The middle class want to become rich and the low class only wants equality.” Orwell’s predictions of the party, the government in modern society, rises to power and the poor stay poor. In LA Times “Income Inequality makes the rich more scrooge-like, study finds”, “Since the 1980’s -- the end of a 30-year period… wealth has grown increasingly concentrated at the top of the economic ladder, while low-income Americans have commanded a smaller and smaller share of the nation’s wealth.” *add where quote is from* ”... top 5 percent of American families saw their real income increase 74.9 percent… the lowest-income fifth saw a decrease in real income of 12.1 percent… Sharply contrasting with the 1947-79 period… with the lowest income group actually seeing the largest gains.”
The authors point is that the destructive relation between income inequality and happiness affects more poor people than rich people. (Oishi at al., p5). On one hand I agree with the authors on the fact that the poor are the first affected by the negative impact of the relation between income disparity and happiness, because the income disparity can create job and wage insecurity. In fact Job and wage insecurity is increasing, low-income families are rising along with the vulnerabilities that creates, guaranteed pensions are becoming a thing of the past, health benefits are tough, personal debt is greatly increasing, training are declining, and precarious employment are growing. On top of all that the political class is more self-centered and indifferent to the people.