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Effects of wealth on people's life
Distribution of wealth and income in America
Distribution of wealth and income in America
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Recommended: Effects of wealth on people's life
Daniel Solis
BUS-109
Who Rules America?
After reading Wealth, Income and Power by G. William Domhoff I was truly shocked about the facts that were given. Does high income and a lot of wealth lead to power? Does power lead to a high income and lots of wealth? First, let‘s first define what wealth and income is, according to the article, wealth is the value of everything a person or family owns, minus any debts. Income, again according to the article is what people earn from work but can also be from dividends, interest and any rents that are paid to them on properties they own. Now we will look into greater detail, is this really true? What can we do to fairly distribute to wealth income and power? Is the current distribution badly effecting
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When it comes to income the wealthiest people usually have the most income. So when it comes to income, it was stated in the paper that people believe that taxes are highly progressive and top 1% pay the most taxes received. Both are wrong, payroll taxes are ignored and the mostly payed by people who have an income below $100,000. What I find the crazy about that is most people do not even know that, I believe we need to be more educated about this, this is a real problem that needs to be fixed. In article by Steve Hargreaves he states a lot of reason why income inequality is bad. One reason is that this gap in income suppresses economic growth and job growth. The middle class is too weak to support consumer spending. In a Ted Talk I read that another reason why income inequality is bad is that people do get the same opportunity. Some people are limited to less resources. People against the inequality would say that the top 1% are taking a huge piece of the pie and they have shrunk the pie. Now let’s look at the other side and see why some might say income inequality is good thing. One reason why we can say it is a good thing is that the top 1% of people taking 17% of all income is these people that have the money know what to do with it. They are educated, so if we keep taxing the wealthy and transferring money to the working class the money is not used in the right …show more content…
Let’s define what power is first, according to the paper power has to do with the ability to realize wishes, or reach goals. This paper did a great job on seeing how wealth and income distinguish power. As far as wealth, things like stock ownership control companies. So since these people own so many stocks it is almost like they are controlling the company and evidently that effects society. People want to have things that society values the most so the most people that have those things have the most power. One point that the paper made and I cannot agree with more is people want their own property, go on vacation and live in nice houses. Those values are distributed unequally so these values are considered power. Income can also be looked at as a power indicator. One way people with high income have so much power is taxes. We would think they pay more in taxes but in reality they pay 30.8% of their income taxes and that is a little less than then what the 9% below them pay. Income did grow by 27% since 1979 but 33% of those gains went all to the top 1%. So what can we do to distribute the wealth and income? Wealth is closely tied with income. With that being said the middle class needs to be cheaper. Every dollar that they save goes to their wealth. Another way to distribute the wealth and income equally is redistribution. According to an article by
3. What are the effects of this wealth inequality in the US and what causes it, as well as some possible solutions and their ramifications, will all be discussed and answered below. There has always been a wealth gap between the richest and poorest in society. However, in the past decade, the wealth gap between the richest and poorest citizens in the US has been growing rapidly. In the 70s and 80s, the wealth and income growth rate for both poor and rich people were similar, however, between the years 2009 and 2012 the top 1% income increased 31% while for the bottom 20%, their income actually dropped and for the vast majority of Americans, the average yearly income only increased by 0.4% [4].
Since 1980, America has experienced a quick and drastic change in income distribution between the top 1% and the rest of the country. The graphs below from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities show how tax policies implemented by the Reagan Administration have compounded over the past thirty-three years to create drastic income disparities.
David J Lynch says that, “ [s]ocieties that manage a narrower gap between rich and poor enjoy longer economic expansions”, however, in the United States the gap between the have and have-nots has widened (source C). “This country is just getting worse and worse and worse … and that is not a recipe for stable growth” (source C). If we do not do something soon our capitalist country will fall. In order for the income inequality gap to lessen to create a more stable economy the government must invest in education and unionize workers and not provide higher taxation for the top one percent.
There is also the damage that the inequality does to the society and the government. Thomas Jefferson once said, “The small landholders are the most precious part of a state.” Today that would mean that the middle class is the most important part of our society, however, the farther we move into the future the weaker the middle class becomes (Krugman, 587). The America that we live in is unequal in income and social aspects. The rich do not live the same lives as those that are less fortunate, and the less fortunate do not get to enjoy the perks that come with the lives of the rich people.
All people have power, some people are just more powerful than others. Having power is the ability to create change. Examples of power being used wrongly is during the French revolution, and the residential school crisis. During the French revolution, two examples were shown of people abusing their power. King Louie XVI raised taxes so that he could buy things that he and his wife Marie Antoinette wanted, and took away rights from the third estate. In the residential schools crisis, the teachers, priests and nuns had power over the students and abused the students in different ways. Superior people take away the rights from those who are below them, but they end up corrupt.
The highest earning fifth of U.S. families earned 59.1% of all income, while the richest earned 88.9% of all wealth. A big gap between the rich and poor is often associated with low social mobility, which contradicts the American ideal of equal opportunity. Levels of income inequality are higher than they have been in almost a century, the top one percent has a share of the national income of over 20 percent (Wilhelm). There are a variety of factors that influence income inequality, a few of which will be discussed in this paper. Rising income inequality is caused by differences in life expectancy, rapidly increases in the incomes of the top 5 percent, social trends, and shifts in the global economy.
today. The upper classes have most of the power in the nation and use their influence and wealth to convert the United States income into benefiting their well being and financial stability. In the last fifteen years, the income of the upper classes has risen while the income of the lower classes
Wealth inequality is a real issue that needs to be fixed. The imbalanced growth of the upper class compared to the middle class is a danger to American society as a whole. The rich becoming richer while the middle class remains the same leads to a power imbalance, with the rich using their money to run the country the way they see fit while the middle class speaks to ears that do not listen. The issue of wealth inequality needs to be fixed by raising taxes on the rich.
Between the end of World War II and the late 1970s, income inequality in the U.S. was reduced; but since 1970s, the situation with wealth distribution has changed. Data from tax returns in 1976 show that the top 1 percent of households received 8.9 percent of all pre-tax income. In 2008, the top 1 percent’s share had more than doubled to 21.0 percent.
Income inequality in the United States, as of 2007, has reached levels not seen since 1928. In 1928, the top one percent received nearly 24% of all income within the United States (Volscho & Kelly, 2012). This percentage fell to nearly nine percent in 1975, but has risen to 23.5% as of 2007 (Volscho & Kelly, 2012). Meanwhile, in 2007 (see
Inside of this video, this guy really targets an issue nobody has really been presented. He shows charts that talk about how we Americans think our wealth is distributed. We think distribution is doing alright. Americans think that the bottom 40% is getting a bit of money. They also believe that the middle class is doing reasonably well. Unfortunately, that is not the case. In the video, he breaks it down a little bit getter. He shows a graph that shows how money is actually being distributed. The poorest of poor don 't even register on the poverty line. The middle class is barely making it. And then there is this huge difference between "the rich" and the poor. It is proven that the 1% of America has 40% of the entire nation 's wealth ("Wealth Inequality in America."). The bottom 80% of America only share 7% of the nation 's wealth among themselves. The top 1% has 50% of the stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. The bottom 50% of Americans only own 0.5% ("Wealth Inequality in America."). The poor is not just getting by but they are scraping and fighting to get by. Now that it is clear that there is a lot of poor people in America, it is important to figure out how to fix
Time and time again we hear politicians and office holders preach the need for a powerful middle-class. You may then be surprised to hear that “about 82% of America’s net worth belongs to the top 20%, the next 80% of people only own about 18% of America’s wealth” (UCSC). Some may argue that this disproportion is the beauty of capitalism, the chance to create an empire. I argue that the proportions are simply unfair. Why is it that “ the average CEO makes 350X as much as his/her employee” (UCSC)?
At this point, with an understanding of what power is, what it means, how it is created and the various means through which it is expressed, one can begin to conceptualise how it is that power functions within a given society. Symbolic, cultural, social and economic capital distribute and perpetuate power within a society, through a cycle of transformation whereby these capital resources can be interchanged and manipulated to the advantage of individuals who have
Income inequality has affected American citizens ever since the American Dream came to existence. The American Dream is centered around the concept of working hard and earning enough money to support a family, own a home, send children to college, and invest for retirement. Economic gains in income are one of the only possible ways to achieve enough wealth to fulfill the dream. Unfortunately, many people cannot achieve this dream due to low income. Income inequality refers to the uneven distribution of income and wealth between the social classes of American citizens. The United States has often experienced a rise in inequality as the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, increasing the unstable gap between the two classes. The income gap in America has been increasing steadily since the late 1970’s, and has now reached historic highs not seen since the 1920’s (Desilver). UC Berkeley economics professor, Emmanuel Saez conducted extensive research on past and present income inequality statistics and published them in his report “Striking it Richer.” Saez claims that changes in technology, tax policies, labor unions, corporate benefits, and social norms have caused income inequality. He stands to advocate a change in American economic policies that will help close this inequality gap and considers institutional and tax reforms that should be developed to counter it. Although Saez’s provides legitimate causes of income inequality, I highly disagree with the thought of making changes to end income inequality. In any diverse economic environment, income inequality will exist due to the rise of some economically successful people and the further development of factors that push people into poverty. I believe income inequality e...
Income inequality is a big problem in the United States because the top, wealthiest American saw huge increases in their incomes, which the rest had their incomes go down. Bottom people do not have the same amount of money and the opportunity to move up the social ladder as the rich people do. In order to reduce income inequality, the government needs to tax the rich people more, and give poor people more money and more social services - education, food subsidies, health care.