The disparity between the top income earners in the United States and everyone else is ridiculous. The rich continue to see huge increases in their income while everyone else’s rarely moves. Who is to blame for such a huge income disparity are Republicans, Democrats, neither, or maybe both? However, traditionally right wing republicans have favored reducing income taxes and corporate taxes for the top earners in the U.S. Republicans argue that Bush-era tax cuts on top earnings should be extended to stimulate the economy, while many Democrats back extensions only for lower earners(Marcia Clemmitt, 2010, para 1). While on the left side Democrats generally believe that more government spending can help bridge the gap between the rich and everyone else, Republicans generally don’t. In this report, I attempt how income inequality is affecting people and what can be done about it. Republicans views on income distribution in the economy are perhaps changing Barry Ritholtz (2014) from economonitor reports, “Two out of three Americans are dissatisfied with the way income and wealth is currently distributed in the U.S. This includes three-fourths of Democrats and 54% of Republicans” (para 4). It seems that the majority of Republicans have come to realization that income inequality is unstable and terrible for the United States economy. According to Ritholtz the top five reasons are “one it drags down the economy, two inequality increases the nation’s debt, three inequality leads to social unrest and violence, four cause of our soaring inequality is bailouts for the big banks and socialism, and five big banks are manipulating every market, and committing massive crimes.” The vast majority of citizens would agree that economic growth is vit... ... middle of paper ... ....d.).Pew Research Center for the People and the Press RSS. Retrieved March 22, 2014, from http://www.people-press.org/2014/01/23/most-see-inequality-growing-but-partisans-differ-over-solutions/ Ritholtz, B. (2014, January 28). EconoMonitor : EconoMonitor » 54% of Republicans Say We've Got Too Much Inequality. EconoMonitor RSS 092. Retrieved March 22, 2014, from http://www.economonitor.com/blog/2014/01/54-of-republicans-say-weve-got-too-much-inequality/ Scheartz, N. (2014, February 2). The Middle Class Is Steadily Eroding. Just Ask the Business World.. The New York Times. Retrieved March 24, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/03/business/the-middle-class-is-steadily-eroding-just-ask-the-business-world.html?_r=0 The Economic Policy Institute. (n.d.).Economic Policy Institute. Retrieved March 22, 2014, from http://www.epi.org/minimum-wage-statement/
The reality is that the economic gap within the classes is great and growing. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the gap between the richest and "everyone else" in America is the greatest it has been since the end of WWII. Professor Edward N. Wolff of N.Y.U. states that the current era represents "the most extreme level of wealth concentration since the late 1920's" (Gates 17).
The film “Inequality for all” directed by Jacob Kornbluth, begins with Robert Reich asking students three questions to consider in a lecture when talking about the uneven distribution of wealth. First, what is happening regarding the distribution of wealth? He then inquires to why this is happening. Last of all, he asks the students if the distribution of wealth is a problem in America. He addresses these questions as well as many others in his lecture on the growing divide between America’s rich and poor. Robert Reich is an economist, author, and educator as well as public policy professor who served in the Ford, Carter and Clinton administration. He has dealt with this particular topic for over three decades and continues to spread his political views as a professor at the University of Berkley. Furthermore, he talks about the widening gap between the wealthy and the poor/middle class. He goes beyond the obvious facts to show us why this is happening and uses statistical data to display this growing problem. He gives concerning evidence that wages are declining, and that America’s weakening economy is based on consumerism.
“A Guide to Statistics on Historical Trends in Income Inequality.” cbpp.org. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2013. Web. 06 April. 2014. .
Stone, Chad, Danilo Trisi, Arloc Sherman, and William Chen. "Center on Budget and Policy Priorities." A Guide to Statistics on Historical Trends in Income Inequality. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 6 Nov. 2013. Web. 03 Dec. 2013. .
Throughout the years, “ U.S income inequality has been increasing steadily since the 1970s and now has reached levels not seen since 1928” (Source A).
Sklar, Holly. “The Growing Gulf Between the Rich and the Rest of Us”. They Say I Say. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, Russel Durst. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009. Print.
Desilver, Drew. “U.S. Income inequality, On Rise for Decades, Is Now Highest Since 1928.” Pew Research Center RSS. N.p. 30 Dec. 2010.Web. 30Apr. 2014.
A plethora of research studies exist on the topic of wealth inequality in America. There is no question that the top one percent of earners consume a large portion of wealth in this country while the other 90 percent of earners share the left-overs. Some of the related questions that I found during the course of my research are 1) Why are wealth and income distributions so vastly disproportionate? 2) Can America bridge the wealth gap? 3) If so, how? 4) Has the wealth gap increased over time? 5) Are there public policies that influence wealth inequality? And, 6) Is America’s middle-class growing poor? Those are just a few of the many questions that circulate the discussion on wealth inequality in America. However, the two
In the United States there are four social classes : the upper class, the middle class, the working class, and the lower class. Of these four classes the most inequality exists between the upper class and the lower class. This inequality can be seen in the incomes that the two classes earn. During the period 1979 through the present , the growth in income has disproportionately grown.The bottom sixty percent of the US population actually saw their real income decrease in 1990 dollars. The next 20% saw medium gains. The top twenty percent saw their income increase 18%. The wealthiest one percent saw their incomes rise drastically over 80%. As reported in the 1997 Center on Budget's analysis , the wealthiest one percent of Americans ( 2.6 million people) received as much after-tax income in 1994 as the bottom 35 percent of the population combined (88 million people). But in 1977 the bottom 35 percent had about twice as much after tax income as the top one percent. These statistics further show the disproportional income growth among the social classes. The gr...
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
Krugman points out how despite the obvious and ever growing gap between the rich and middle class in terms of wealth increase, Republicans tend to vote for tax cuts for the rich and for decreases in funding for programs that benefit the middle and lower classes of society, such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Cutting funds for these services puts the middle and lower classes at even more of a disadvantage than they already were. Meanwhile, the rich receiving more tax cuts means they receive more money, furthering the economic wealth gap and increasing the money they can spend to influence politics. Krugman suggests the solution to the problem is increasing taxes on the
Frank, Robert H. “Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore.” They Say, I Say: The Moves That Matter
Desilver, Drew. “U.S. Income Inequality, On The Rise…” Pew Research Center. 5 Dec. 2013. Web. 12 Feb. 2014.
Income inequality continues to increase in today’s world, especially in the United States. Income inequality means the unequal distribution between individuals’ assets, wealth, or income. In the Twilight of the Elites, Christopher Hayes, a liberal journalist, states the inequality gap between the rich and the poor are increasing widening, and there need to have things done - tax the rich, provide better education - in order to shortening the inequality gap. America is a meritocratic country, which means that everybody has equal opportunity to be successful regardless of their class privileges or wealth. However, equality of opportunity does not equal equality of outcomes. People are having more opportunities to find a better job, but their incomes are a lot less compared to the top ten percent rich people. In this way, the poor people will never climb up the ladder to high status and become millionaires. Therefore, the government needs to increase all the tax rates on rich people in order to reduce income inequality.