Economic Disparities Between Rich And Poor Summary

"Income Inequality and the End of the Republic." Daily Kos. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.

“I know I am dating myself by writing this, but I remember a middle class.” (549) McClelland tells us of a time when a high school dropout could get a job and earn more money than a high school teacher (549). He remembers looking at his neighbor’s vehicles, houses, and possessions and seeing “evidence of prosperity distributed equally among social classes (550). During the 1970’s, middle class individuals were able to buy many

In the essay “Richer and Poorer” written by Jill Lepore and published in the New Yorker in March 16, 2015. She argues how the united states has the largest economic inequality in the world and how it’s been going on for years. The audience they are pursuing for this paper are those who are either well educated, those who are updated in recent political regimes, and those who must stomach economic inequality. Ms. Lepore states evidence amidst other authors, stories, and numbers based on research from the Gini Index, which is amongst other parts throughout their paper. The Essay the author wrote uses all the rhetorical devices in different areas within the paper, such as the first page and sixth page show

Stereotypes are seen as overgeneralized ideas, images, or beliefs of a person based on a group of people. Stereotypes can either be taken or said in a negative or positive way but mostly seen in a negative way. Stereotypes are formed on a life experience, idea or a belief a person may have towards one person based on the person’s gender, race, religion or social class. The most common stereotypes are of the social classes which are the: upper, middle and lower class.

America prides itself on being one of the most effective democratically governed counties. The idea of the American dream is that all people have equivalent political freedoms and a responsive government. However the effectiveness of social equality is being threatened by increasing inequality in the United States. Economic inequality in the US has expanded drastically. The wealth gap has had drastic changes over the past 35 years. What’s more, specifically, the rich have gotten a lot richer. Almost everybody who talk about it says that economic inequality must be reduced.

Brandon King asserts, “We may have genuine inequality issues and a sizable divide between the rich and poor, and we might have an economy that is recovering too slowly for public interest” (613). What Brandon King is saying is that those who don't have as much power as the upper-class, tend to lose hope because lower and middle-class people see those at the top as superior. Sometimes we tend to believe that inequality has become inevitable to overcome because it’s been going on for long. David Leonhardt writes in his essay, “we could end up with a society in which the rich separate themselves from everyone else, perpetuating their wealth from one generation to the next (543). His point is that there can be something for the inequality between the rich and poor. There are a few things the economy needs to keep in mind and that is how we distribute taxes and the poor, how we invest schools, the money we use to build roads, and transit systems. Inequality may be seen as impossible to overcome, but I agree with Leonhardt says “Rising inequality is a trend, but it is one that we have helped and create and we can still change (547). In making this comment, Leonhardt urges us to have a broader perspective and become more open-minded that we can in fact, be able to make a change, comparing it as a

Although, for wealthy people it was not much of an issue. For poorer people, the challenge became harder and harder everyday with the hope of being able to do simple tasks such as putting food on the table for their families. These people sold off their equity for a fraction of its actual value in an effort to have enough money to get by on a daily basis. However, the wealthy did not have to worry to the point of liquidating their values, therefore enjoying a much larger piece of the stock market. In Frederick Lewis Allen’s data, The Big Change, it breaks down the percentages of annual American family incomes. In Allen’s chart, he illustrates how only 2% of the American population makes over $10,000 a year. With the poverty level at $2000 a year, most of the American population fell close to or under this annual income (Doc 8). These low wages of annual income made people's’ lives a true struggle. Citizens would work for nearly 24 hours, all week long, just to get by with basic living standards. An example of living at or below the poverty level, is documented in Paul Blanshard’s “How to live on Forty-six Cents a Day” interview with a woman living in South Carolina with her family of 6. One of the most shocking points of the interview is where the woman explains how between her and her husband, $22.80 is made per week. She goes on to describe, “It takes about $16 a week to feed us” (Doc 7). This woman’s

Wealth inequality in America is nothing new. It has been growing more and more over the decades. The rich are becoming richer and the poor are becoming poorer. Imagine, people are having to get up at six o’clock every morning and drive back and forth across town to work at three jobs they hate. People have to work multiple jobs because most places only hire part time and pay minimum wage. Even after working sixteen hour days people are still barely able to pay bills and can only eat sparingly to get by. The wealthy are getting wealthier because the government is creating laws that allow them pocket more money. As the wealth inequality increases it puts more burden on the middle class. The wealth inequality is growing in America and it keeps

As much as people hate to admit it, society and the world revolves around money. Whether someone wants to go to college, own a house, support a family, live luxurious etc all these things are dependent on wealth. So, knowing that the top one percent wealthiest people in the U.S owns more than the other ninety-nine percent combined is a little terrifying, and it’s partly due to the income inequality in the U.S. When there are people supporting their families on minimum wage and no one has taken action it’s time for a change. So, when it comes to the subject of wealth everyone will agree that is necessary to live. Where this consensus ends, however, is whether income inequality actually exists. Where as some would argue that income inequality

In the article “Confronting Inequality”, by Paul Krugman, he states that “vast income inequality inevitably brings vast social inequality in its train. And this social inequality isn’t just a matter of envy and insults.” (Krugman 563). Krugman is basically stating that the unfortunate is becoming poorer stressing day after day while the wealthy is becoming filthy rich having nothing to worry about. The widening gap is a serious issue because millions of families buy houses in nice neighborhoods they know they can’t afford due to themselves being so desperate to send their children to good schools. While it is reasonable to infer that this inequality gap has widened due to globalization or technological changes making the American population less competitive, we’re missing the real issue that with this gap being so wide as it currently is, there is not positive change being made. To add on, economic inequality can typically affect political choice making due to stances in life. In article “Inequalities of Income and Inequalities of Longevity”, by Eric Neumayer, he specifies that “poor people are less likely to vote and have little influence on political decisions, whereas the very rich can exercise a strong influence via lobbying and donations.” This highly creates political incentives that would benefit the rich rather than the poor in making society a convenience for the rich at the expense of the poor. For example, Neumayer list that low income families or individuals have multiple consequences with health due to the reason that they can’t afford the best hospitality a wealthy person would be able to afford. Therefore, America has huge amounts of inequality in opportunity and we may be convinced that any individual can be successful through determination but facts are saying otherwise. Wages are completely out

In Bell Hooks article he discusses how American’s rarely admitted to being poor and uses his own life as an example. Growing up the author states that his family was poor but he was corrected by Coronel West as being working poor because his father had job. Bell says that he did not begin to see himself as poor until he went to college when money became the topic of many conversations and a major factor in his life. Bell states he rarely thinks of himself in relation to class and tends to see the word as the have and have nots.

Such as society as a whole is prospering, there is help for the very poor, and there is an equal ability for all people to rise up in the economic system. "Any system in which the spoils are distributed so unevenly is morally wrong, they say. This newspaper disagrees. Inequality is not inherently wrong-as long as three conditions are met: first, society as a whole is getting richer; second, there is a safety net for the very poor; and third, everybody, regardless of class, race, creed or sex, has an opportunity to climb up through the system. A dynamic, fast-growing economy may sometimes look ugly, but it offers far more hope than a stagnant one for everybody in the United

The film, “Land of the Free, Home of the Poor,” by the PBS NewsHour talks about the inequality in the United States First, my reaction to this film was surprisingly disgusted, because we think we live in a country is more fairly economically distributed, but the truth is we do not. Second, what I learned about this film was how unequal our country is. The PBS NewsHour states that, “The top 20% of Americans now hold 84% of U.S. wealth, and more and more families are falling out of the middle class.” This mean the riches owns more 84% of the wealth in the country and the middle class and the low class owns the rest. Third, what I found most surprising was the fact that Sweden was has a more economic equality for rich class, middle class and low

The working-class of this country is seen by the majority as the backbone of this country, as they play a crucial role in doing the “dirty” work that others are unwilling to do. Many children who have parents in the working-class, are ultimately exposed and socialized to different concepts of success than those of middle-class families. Throughout Henslin’s chapter, “Moving Up from the Working Class” Joan M. Morris and Michael D. Grimes discuss the socio- economic stratas of the United States today, and how a socialization in “class structure” can develop a child’s morals, beliefs, and values. The subtle yet distinct boundaries of class arise usually arrive during the time of college applications, as many upper or middle-class families are

Inequality is as bad for the rich as it is for the poor. Society is poorer as inequality becomes greater. (Friedman, 2011) The impacts of inequality shows up in poorer health, lower educational attainment, higher crime rates, lower spending of social capital, lower cooperation with and trust of government. (Friedman, 2011) On the other hand, inequality can also mean uneven distribution of wealth, which causes the poor to become even poorer. Poverty, hunger, homelessness, illiteracy, preventable disease, polluted air and water, and most of the other ills that beset humanity, have the same root cause: the inequitable distribution of planet’s wealth and resources. (All social and economic problems caused by an unfair distribution of wealth, 2003) The world actually holds enough to satisfy everybody’s needs, but unfortunately the world’s wealth is not distributed in the best possible way. There is a system in which 400 billionaires own more wealth than the poorest two-and-a-half billion people, and the proponents of this grossly inequitable system see nothing wrong with it. They would not object if eventually 600 billionaires owned more wealth than 90% of the rest of humankind. (All social and economic problems caused by an unfair distribution of wealth, 2003) If almost all of the world’s wealth is in the hands of the rich, then how will we end poverty? People who have all this money should either donate it or use it in an efficient way. For example, they could hire a few poor people to work in their houses, working building or many other places. In this way the money could reach to the poor in a way that the rich can also benefit from