Essay On Low Income Inequality

Over the past few years, the income gap between low-income families and high-income families has increased drastically. In the article “10 Practical Steps to Reverse This Diabolical Trend Is Threatening the Foundations of Our Society,” Robert Reich states, “The Congressional Budget Office has found that between 1979 and 2007. . .The gap in income-after federal taxes and transfer-more than tripled between the top 1 percent of the population and everyone else.” As seen in our society, the distribution of wealth is unfair and unjust, which has increased income inequality and will eventually create poverty. As a result, the number of people living in poverty is increasing rapidly. It may seem that income inequality is inevitable, but there are solutions to lessen the gap, like investing in education, hiring American workers instead of overseas workers who accept low pay, and increasing taxes on the wealthy.

The first solution to help lessen income inequality in the United States is by investing in education. For the past few years, the cost of attendance at the 4-year universities is increasing rapidly to a point where college is not accessible for everyone. The essay “Why the Rich are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer” shows how important education is in our society and how it can affect a person’s status. There are a lot

of ways to invest in education but the most beneficial way to invest in education is by lowering the cost tuition fees. In the movie “Inequality for All,” Robert Reich states, “In the 1960s, the tuition was free . . . in the 1970s, it was $700 a year in today’s dollar, but now it cost $15,000 for in-state resident.” As shown in the video, in the past, college was available for everyone; anyone can get a higher education. But, as the inequality gets worse, college became unaffordable, which made it impossible for someone who is not rich to have a college degree. As a result, some are forced to choose straight to work that pays minimum wage or less, which made high paying jobs more available because only a few people are getting educated to learn the basic skills that are needed to the areas where job is available. A person who doesn’t have a college degree will have limited job opportunities and they will be paid less than an educated person. Education is important because it can help someone to escape the horrible life that is brought by poverty.
The second solution to lessen the income inequality in the United States is by hiring American workers instead of overseas workers who are paid less than minimum wage. To continue competing with other corporations, many companies became unethical; they started hiring workers who accept low pay. In the essay “Why the Rich Are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer,” Robert Reich states “It then discovered that producers in Singapore would perform the same task at a far lower cost . . . so in the early 1980s they began hiring cheaper routine producers in Singapore” (Reich 517). As the corporations gain more profit, the corporations became greedy and selfish; the corporations are putting the profits first before the workers. For example, in the recent studies by Center for American Progress, the author says the following:
U.S. multinational corporations, the big brand-name companies that employ a fifth of all American workers… cut their work forces in the U.S. by 2.9 million during the 2000s while increasing employment overseas by 2.4 million. (5 Facts)
As seen in the recent study, many corporations are more concern about the profit more than the workers who works for them. The overseas worker, who are paid less than the minimum wage, takes away the job opportunities that Americans workers should have.
Last but not least, another to lessen income inequality in the United States is to increase the taxes on the wealthy and to reduce the taxes on the poor. For the past few years, the taxing system in our country has been unfair and unjust; the wealthy tends to pay less tax and the poor tends to pay higher taxes. In the video “Inequality for All,” Warren Buffet says, “My total taxes paid, payroll taxes plus income tax, mine came to 17.7%. The average for the office was 32.9% . . . the taxation system has tilted toward the rich” (qtd. in Reich). As shown, the taxation system favors the rich which makes the poor suffer because the poor pays a higher tax rates. Today, lowering the tax rates on the poor will be beneficial because currently, the price of expenses are extremely high and some low-income families are struggling to pay the bills and to provide the needs of their family. Unlike the poor, the wealthy have a lot of more money and paying the bills and providing the needs of their family is easy for them.
On the other hand, the other side of political spectrum who practice communism will argue that income inequality will never disappear until the there’s an existence of capitalism and the only solution to lessen the income equality is to become a communist. Communists argue says that they have equality because in their political system, there are no capitalist, which means everyone are in the same class and the workers are getting paid with the same amount of money whether he/she works hard or not. The essay “The Communist Manifesto” emphasizes that, unlike capitalism, communism promotes equality. In the essay, Karl Marx says the following:
In this sense, the theory of the communists may be summed up in the single sentence: abolition of private property . . . but communism abolishes eternal truth, it abolishes all religion and all morality, instead of constituting them on a new basis. (Marx 468)
As explain in the essay, the communists view equality differently; the communists believe that private property don’t exist and they don’t value uniqueness.

In the modern civilization, North Korea is the only country that practices communism. As explain in the essay, communism would solve income inequality and communism is better than capitalism but as seen today, the citizens of North Korea are suffering from poverty; N. Koreans are famished and they’re living in horrific conditions. It’s great that communism promotes equality but the way they view equality is disturbing and their political system takes away the citizen’s rights and

freedom.
The income inequality in our nation is becoming more challenging to the low-income families. In the article “Conservatives Blame the Wrong People for Economic Problems,” Noah Webster says, “The causes which destroyed the ancient republics are numerous, but in Rome, one principal cause was the vast inequality of fortunes” (qtd. in Lundgren). Income inequality is the major problem in our country because it will lead to poverty. If income inequality is left unsolved, it will create a huge problem that can destroy our society.