Economic Inequalities In America

In the 1800’s an almost pure capitalist country was being controlled, bribed, and powered by Robber Barons which employed most of their population in an unmonitored economy. During the late 19th century these Robber Barons were in control of most citizen’s salary. In order to increase profits many factories paid their workers a decent wage so their employees could afford their products. That was the United States. Again a similar problem is arising.Although the American economy is improving from the great recession , the middle class is shrinking, a problem for a consumerist based economy where the middle class makes up the consumerists.

What did the gilded age consist of? The gilded age was a time period that took place during the late 19th century and early 20th century and it consisted of economic prosperity for many Americans while for others economic growth was not so prosperous. The industry was expanding significantly and that changed the American society. The American industry boomed; consequently, a division between the workers and the owners grew and that created what is known as a social divide. The social divide was the division of the rich from the poor.

The economical standpoint in The Great Gatsby and the way characters such as Gatsby and Tom spent their money reflect how rich economy was and how others living during the 1920s spent their money. During The Roaring Twenties, “many people had extra money to spend on things other than food, housing, and other basic needs” ('Roaring Twenties' a Time of Economic and Social Change). Just like in The Great Gatsby, people living during the 1920s saw that there was more money than usual, so this became something they desired. The economy in both The Great Gatsby and the 1920s in America expanded and therefore purchasing things other than the necessities was considered true success.

The most affluent citizens have more influence and they also hold disproportionate political power. In other words, when income distributes unequally and is concentrated in the hands of a small number, political power often skews in favour of these wealthy groups. Owing to this, they can persuade politicians and lawmakers to implement policies that favour them, whether it’s done legally or in corrupt ways, whilst correspondingly hurting the rest of society. For instance, despite having a progressive tax system in America, in which tax rates are larger for high-income earners than it is for others with lower wages, the most prosperous people seem to pay less tax. Consequently, this leads to a reduced amount of tax revenues and less money able to be spent on education, health, transport etc.

In fact the washington times researched that Normally immigrants would pick the harvest at a low price and because many Americans do not want to do this job it doesn 't get done. Immigrants do the jobs people don 't want to do such as a janitor, cleaner, or construction worker. Without these immigrants to fill these positions it would have an even worse outcome. Businesses and restaurants might not be clean and get shut down for sanitary reasons. In fact the Washington times did a research and found out that “It is important to note that immigrants or their children founded more than 40 percent of U.S. Fortune 500 companies — turning their American dreams into American jobs”(engler 1).

“At the states and local level alone, Undocumented immigrants nationwide collectively pay an estimated $11.64 Billion each year in taxes, according to a recent report by the institute on taxation and economic policy. …. Many undocumented immigrants also pay state income taxes.” The Immigrants are coming to live in America for a better life, but they aren’t just coming here to live for free they are paying taxes. so why can’t they stay in America to live there dream to do something in life? Immigrants from all over have helped the states and other countries become much better, for their own good and their future.

For my final argumentative essay, I have chosen the topic wealth disparity. In my opinion, this topic needs to be research more in depth. The problem of wealth disparity is not just a national societal problem, but global societal problem. The distribution of wealth nationally has created social class system of the haves, and have nots, moreover, wealth disparity or wealth distribution; for example, there is wealth disparity between blacks and whites in America. In compelling surveys done by the United States Census Bureau, show that white men on a whole annual salary are higher in comparison to black

Like the people of the 1920s, we as consumers today often revolve our lives around materialistic things as well. Take Thanksgiving for example. While the holiday of Thanksgiving was started to be thankful for what we are fortunate enough to have, it has transformed dramatically. A few hours after Thanksgiving dinner, the retail industry kicks off Black Friday allowing the American consumer to spend more and obtain more material goods, forgetting what they were thinking hours ago. Likewise, many commercials nowadays portray wealth and a feeling of desire to the American consumer, with the words “sale”, “100% money back guarantee”, and the idea of buying more and more.

The increasing Gini index from 0.291 in 1981 to 0.469 in 2008, which reflects the inequality in the distribution level (1 stands complete inequality and 0 for complete equality) according to china national statistic center.6 Wealth inequality is not only the result of the higher income and rapid growth in income of richer groups, but the geographic different in urban-rural areas, the private property also emerged as a long-term source of

For instance, some provide employees with wages that are slightly higher than the wages earned by employees who possess identical qualifications in the home country. Other businesses decide the salaries of individuals based on the country’s GDP. Moreover, salaries are decided by reference to the country’s GDP per capita. In accordance, workers and employees from countries like the United States and UAE earn more than other competitors with similar qualifications. Furthermore, some argue that capitalism is the foremost cause of the prodigious variance in salaries of laborers who possess distinct citizenships.

Minimum Wage Laws in America As cost of living continues to rise across the United States, America’s minimum wage remains the same. With a gallon of milk closing around four dollars and federal minimum wage at $7.25, one can understand how the minimum wage can be troublesome for our working class Americans. States such as California, New York, and New Jersey have some of the highest food and rental cost in the country. We must find the right balance and compensate for inflation, otherwise our lower class citizens will keep on struggling to support their families and themselves. With the cost of gas, food and utilities rising our low wage workers simply cannot keep up.

If interest rates increase, it will become attractive to invest money in that country because investors will get a higher return from savings in that country’s banks. Therefore the currency demand will rise. But higher interest rates will have a negative impact on the country. This is due to the reduction in purchasing power of the consumer while the loan borrowers have to pay more interest. Foreign investors are attracted towards a country that has a strong economy.

However it does have so great major parts. To start off, America’s economic equality gap is huge, which is constantly a disturbing factor. On misconception often made about economic inequality is that “the poor are poor because the rich are rich”; this would be a false statement. The rich often own profitable business creating big enterprises. On the other hand, the poor have to go thorough circumstance, which makes their life at the economical stage it is now.

Today if you ask most Americans their view on capitalism and whether they think it’s good or bad, majority of them will tell you that capitalism is good. Why, because capitalism is how most Americans make their money, capitalism is what drives the economy to grow. Why get rid of something that has been implemented in the U.S. for the last couple of decades? The rest of Americans will tell you that capitalism is based off of greed and money hungry corporations scheming to make their next dollar. Personally, I feel that capitalism is not a good economic system, and that it will always be a burden to the environment around us.

“As you can see, the U.S. has seen a rise in income inequality, as measured by the Gini Coefficient, and ranks as one of the most unequal developed economies. What separates the U.S., with its high levels of inequality, from countries like Germany and Japan, which are more egalitarian? Well, one thing is a national sales tax, otherwise known as a value added tax. This is a bit counterintuitive since sales taxes are thought to hit the less affluent harder than income taxes. That’s because sales tax rates are the same regardless of your income, and low-income earners spend more of their total income than the wealthy on sales taxable purchases.” Help shorten