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Income inequality research
Effects of raising the minimum wage
Why is income inequality an issue
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"No person can maximize the American Dream on the minimum wage."
-- Benjamin Todd Jealous
"No family gets rich from earning the minimum wage. In fact, the current minimum wage does not even lift a family out of poverty."
-- Jon Corzine
Income inequality has been a major problem facing American society for decades, but has recently become a major concern. I personally believe the major gap between the income of the rich and poor is a not just, but is not a major concern for the government and society. If the Federal Government addresses other major concerns facing American citizens the inequality will be adjusted due to other changes. The government needs to step in and adjust minimum wage and public education. If the government was to raise minimum wage and give public schools more money to support students educational needs than the income inequality would begin to be adjusted. I strongly believe income inequality is a major problem in today’s society; however, other issues need to be addressed before the gap between the rich and poor in America can be reduced.
I feel a major issue the Federal Government needs to address social issues to aid the income inequality crisis, a main concern is an increase in minimum wage. The current minimum wage standard in the United States is $5.15 an hour; however, “only 17 states and the District of Columbia have set their minimums higher,” but this means there is still a majority, 33 states, with citizens making an incredibly low and inappropriate standard of income (Addison 1). Minimum wage has not increased in over a decade and most likely will not be raised in the next few years. The reason there will not be a raise is because “the Republican minority in the U.S. Senate filibustered and blocked a vote on a House-passed bill that would give workers a $2.10-an-hour raise over two years” (Addison 2). There would have been no strings attached to businesses if this bill would have been passed resulting in no downfalls for businesses, the only major consequence would have been a decrease in the number of citizens living at or below the poverty line. If the Federal Government was to approve the wage increase the income gap would decrease drastically. Many people complain about the inequality between the rich and poor, but the Federal Government is able to decrease the number of people living in poverty instantly b...
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...the poverty line will have to wait an even longer time to rise above their deprivation. Additionally, if the government took the time to establish a solid public education for all students and encouraged high school students to attend college the gap would also see positive changes. Raising wages, setting new standards for schools, and giving more scholarships so students can attend college will all result in positive changes for income inequality. I believe income inequality is a problem society will continue to face if the government does not address other problems facing today’s society, once minimum wage is raised and strong education programs for all students are created the gap will begin to decrease.
Works Cited
Addison, John, and McKinley Blackburn. "Minimum Wages and Poverty." Industrial and Labor Relations Review. Vol. 53, No. 3.
Becker. "America Needs a Raise." ALF-CIO. Winter 2006. America's Union Movement.
24 Mar. 2007 .
Sahadi, Jeanne. "Mind the gap: Income inequality, state by state." CNN Money. 27
Jan. 2006. CNN. 24 Mar. 2007
economy/income_gap/index.htm>.
Imagine a world where you are working overtime, seven days a week, yet your kids are starving. You can’t get the education you need because you don’t have the time and money to afford it, and you can’t change jobs because this is the only one you can get. Unfortunately, this is the reality for millions of Americans living today. The federal minimum wage is too low to help families, and actually mathematically speaking, too low to survive on. The quality of life for minimum wage families is terribly low, and that is unacceptable. As humans, we should be looking after others and helping the poverty come out of their continuous cycle. Raising the minimum wage would not only help families be able to afford a better quality of life, but help them to afford healthy food, get an adequate education, and invest in the necessary health care they need.
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.
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Universities throughout America are debating implementing safe zones for students. These safe zones are areas where college students can go in order to essentially be shielded away from different opinions that counteract with their own which they may find to be off-putting or offensive. These safe zones are meant to “protect” students, but in reality, it is simply delaying their growth as well as defeating the whole reason as to why many people even attend college. Most students attend college pursuing higher education and seeking self-growth. The idea of safe spaces would take away from this goal that students have when they are attending universities. Safe zones disable students from having the opportunities to learn from peers who have a different outlook than their own. College is a time for students to mentally develop and challenge what they believe in safe zones do not prepare students for the real world as college should be doing, but simply discourage students from expanding their views and seeing the world from
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...
Today the federal minimum wage is $5.15, but should be about $8.50 if Congress had adjusted it for inflation over the past 35 years. While $5.15 may not seen that bad, when factoring in such variables as sky rocketing gas prices, budgets can get pretty tight. David Shepard, a sophomore at Wayne State University, worked at a Meijer Retail and Grocery Superstore for over two years while in high school. At the time Shepard lived with his parents and didn’t have to worry about paying rent or buying groceries, all that he had to pay for was filling up his gas tank and paying for his car insurance. Shepard recalled, “It was all I could do to pay for the basics like gas and bill’s, I barely had any money to have fun on the weekends”. This is only an example of a high school student that can nearly slip by on minimum wage with only a few expenses. There are 1.8 million people in America with children under the age of 18 that would benefit from an increase in minimum wage (Minimum).
I currently work at is called Milio’s Sandwiches, a sandwich shop in Madison, Wisconsin. I have been the manager here for about six years. My parents own the franchise and my mother had been in charge of all responsibilities for the store such as; payroll,
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.
“Of course, nothing helps families make ends meet like higher wages. … And to everyone in this Congress who still refuses to raise the minimum wage, I say this: If you truly believe you could work full-time and support a family on less than $15,000 a year, go try it. If not, vote to give millions of the hardest-working people in America a raise.”
"Growing Income Inequality and the Education Gap." Economist's View. N.p., 8 May 2006. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.
This nation has a problem: more of its citizens rely on the federal government for help than to support themselves with a full time job. Poverty has many negative effects on the people who suffer from it and on the economy. Everyone needs to be made aware of poverty and the many negative effects it has on people. There are things that could be done to help reduce the amount of people that are in poverty. Reducing poverty would decrease health risks, strengthen the middle class, and help the democracy.