Arguments Of Income Inequality

Marc Priester and Aaron Mendelson say that income inequality has been increasing for the last 30 years. The definition of income inequality, “…refers to the extent to which income is distributed in an uneven manner among a population” (Priester and Mendelson). In the United States, income inequality is a gap between the rich and poor (Priester and Mendelson). Income inequality has several views that include the Conservative, Liberal, and my views.
The Conservatives aim to give the poor the opportunities to reach the wealthy’s economic bar, instead of taxing the rich more (Benac). Some sources say that income inequality is not the problem, but rather the upward mobility, the opportunity to move to a higher economic class, is the problem (Pethokoukis and "Upward Mobility Definition"). Conservatives want to increase the upward mobility by people getting an education and tax reform to increase jobs and decrease wage stagnation (Garry). Timothy Noah says, “The way out is to reject the assumption that government’s purpose is to redress inequalities of income.” For the most part, Conservatives do not have a lot of effort being put in to fixing income inequality.

The Liberals aim to increase taxes for the rich to let the government get involved into fixing income inequality (Benac).

Liberals would, for example, spend money on infrastructure to create jobs (Luhbi). Defeating income equality also includes raising taxes, more government spending, and more business (Garry). Taking away from the rich to give to the poor, by taxation, is a way that the Liberals would try to fix the problem (Prager). Another way the Liberals want to help is by raising the minimum wage (Garry). However, there are arguments that bigger government getting involved has, in fact, widened the income inequality

gap.
After reading about the Conservative and Liberal sides about income inequality, I have learned that inequalities are part of life and there will always be rich and poor people. With the Conservative side pushing for upward mobility instead, that could help increase jobs and a chance for better wages. However, with the Liberal side pushing for everyone to, for the most part, be equal, it could lead for the poor, unproductive person to stay unproductive with the cash flow coming in from taxes. I do not want to take away from the person who has earned their money to pay for someone who refuses to do something about their situations or moochers riding along cash flow.
While in hindsight, a higher minimum wage might help an individual person, I have to think that perhaps with having to pay someone more, that several people will get laid off and increase the unemployment rate. Then, the United States would have an increased unemployment problem. With the government paying for infrastructure, yes, jobs would be created, but it would only solve the problem for a certain amount of time until the job is finished. If a person was wise, they would have saved their money, but life sometimes does not allow for savings if you have bills to pay and a family to support. There might not be enough money.
In conclusion, the Conservatives and Liberals do have fair points on how to fix income inequality. However, sacrificing might be the way to fix income inequality. My view is that creating jobs could give the people of the United States some time to regain a higher income. But, I also think some taxation could help beat income inequality as well. I am in favor of a little bit of both from the Conservative and Liberal views. However, if I had to choose a side, then I would pick the Conservative side because the idea of taking a huge amount of money in taxes from people who earned their income bothers me.
I believe that some government should be involved in trying to fix income inequality because a little push might go a long way. As an individual, do I want my tax dollars to go to someone I don’t know? No, not really, but, if they were improving themselves, then I would feel better about my tax dollars going to them. If the United States actively protested the income inequality more often and more powerfully, I feel like someone could get involved in this situation to fix income inequality. However, I see income inequality sticking around for as long as the world keeps turning.