Essay On Social Inequality In The United States

Citizens who make up the lower class are at a clear disadvantage when it comes to obtaining national resources. Social inequality plays an important part in the founding of the United States.This is a systemic issue that has been embedded in the development of this country.  The power of corporations and the one percent has continued to grow. Lower class citizens have to face issues like income inequality, race inequality, and lack of government protection. These are just some of the issues that lower class citizens suffer from. While the one percent continues to benefit from national resources the lower class struggle to obtain basic nation resources.

The United states were equally founded by capitalism and religious freedom.  Capitalism continues to play an important role in the United States.“The U.S. is more unequal than most of its developed-world peers. According to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the U.S. ranked 10th out of 31 OECD countries in income inequality based on “market incomes” — that is, before taking into account the redistributive effects of tax policies and income-transfer programs such as Social Security and unemployment insurance. After accounting for taxes and transfers, the U.S. had the second-highest level of

inequality, after Chile”. Income inequality is a growing prevalent issue within the United States. Wealth within a country should benefit all the people. As the income inequality grows the one percent start to become more powerful. Without equal distribution of wealth the lower class continues to suffer. “By one measure, U.S. income inequality is the highest it’s been since 1928. In 1982, the

highest-earning 1% of families received 10.8% of all pre-tax income, while the bottom 90% received 64.7%, according to research by UC-Berkeley professor Emmanuel Saez. Three decades later, according to Saez’ preliminary estimates for 2012, the top 1% received 22.5% of pretax income, while the bottom 90%’s share had fallen to 49.6%”. If the income gap continues to grow more United States citizens will find themselves living in poverty. The one percent of a nation should not control the majority of the money.  If the gap continues to grow the lower class majority will continue to lose what little wealth they have to the top one percent.  In a nation fueled by capitalistic gain not having enough money to stay over the poverty line can be detrimental to any low class American families.

If you are a minority in the United States is common to deal with race related inequality. “Black-white wage gaps are larger today than they were in 1979, but the increase has not occurred along a straight line. Since 2000 the gap has grown again. As of 2015, relative to the average hourly wages of white men with the same education, experience, metro status, and region of residence, black men make 22.0 percent less, and black women make 34.2 percent less. Black women earn 11.7 percent less than their white female counterparts. The widening gap has not affected everyone equally. Young black women (those with 0 to 10 years of experience) have been hardest hit since 2000.” Citizens  within the lower class are denied the right to not be discriminated against in the workplace. Lower class citizens are more at risk of being taken
advantage of by the government. Without access to proper resources or knowledge of their situation lower class citizens will continue to have their rights infringed upon.

When it comes to poor cities where the majority of the  population is lower class the government chooses not to send federal help to these sites. A famous example of the government's neglect of lower class citizens, is Hurricane Katrina. “As the situation unfolded, it became clear that the government’s response was inadequate and inefficient.  The federal government did not have adequate information concerning the true devastation that the hurricane had caused (White House).  Despite the quantity of government workers in the area, the effects of the hurricane continued to wreak havoc on the city with people still stranded in New Orleans and looters robbing stores left and right.  Firefighters from around the country were called to the region to help with the federal government’s response.  Many of these firefighters were not able to put their skills to use in rescue operations, but instead had to spend time handing out flyers for FEMA to residents of New Orleans (USC Annenberg 2005).  The organizations in charge of search and rescue, the Urban Search and Rescue and the Civil Search and Rescue, did not coordinate their efforts and lacked a strategy for their mission (White House).”. The majority of the citizens affected by Katrina were poor African Americans. Once the government saw that the devastation was greater than they anticipated they should have sent more federal help. Lower class American citizens were denied the protection of the government. The government is
suppose to protect citizens and make sure their rights are not infringed upon but, people who identify as  lower class citizens will not be able to benefit from government protection.  

A recent example of lack of government protection in poor urban areas can be found in Flint, Michigan. “Lead seepage into the drinking water in Flint, Mich., has caused a massive public health crisis and prompted President Obama to declare a federal state of emergency there.
The problem began when the city switched its water supply in 2014. Almost immediately, residents of Flint — a majority-black city where 40 percent of people live in poverty — started complaining about the quality of the water. City and state officials denied for months that there was a serious problem.By that time, supply pipes had sustained major corrosion and lead was leaching into the water. The city switched back to its original water supply late last year, but it was too late to reverse the damage to the pipes. High blood lead levels are especially harmful to children and pregnant women, and can cause "learning disabilities, behavioral problems and mental retardation," the World Health Organization says”. Lower class citizens continue to suffer at the hands of the government. Without money or representation the government chose to ignore the pleas of the citizens affected by the lead. Lower class citizens should not have to fight for basic national resources. Having access to clean water is a basic human right that the government should not be able to control. The government continues to deny lower class citizens national resources because without money or representation citizens will not have enough power to demand federal aid.

The government has continued to deny lower class citizens national resources.

Income inequality and racial inequality make it easier for the government to take advantage of lower class citizens. In Flint, Michigan and New Orleans, the government decided not to aid the lower class citizens when they were both in need of federal assistance. The government continues to ignore and neglect the issues that lower class citizens suffer from. Without representation and money, the lower class will continue to have a hard time demanding national resources from the federal government.  Society collectively needs to recognize the issues that lower class citizens face and work towards

progressiveness.