Park Avenue Essay

The documentary film “Park Avenue: Money, Power, and the American Dream” directed by Alex Gibney is about the wealth gap between the rich and the poor in the United States. The documentary compares the access to opportunities of residents of Park Avenue both on the Upper East Side and in the South Bronx. The director explain that billionaires like David Koch made significant donations to politicians such as Paul Ryan for their own gain. The documentary includes interviews with a doorman at 740 Park Avenue, journalist Jane Mayer, Yale University Professor Jacob Hacker, Berkeley Professor Paul Piff, and Republican advisor Bruce Bartlett. The documentary makes a compelling case that inequality exposes democracy and that the victims of the inequality

include not only those who find themselves in the rapidly expanding underclass, but the American dream itself.
Park Avenue on the Upper East Side in Manhattan is the wealthiest neighborhood in the New York City. Across the river, Park Avenue runs through the South Bronx, home to the poorest congressional district in the United States. Gibney states that while income disparity has always existed in the U.S., it has accelerated sharply over the years. Seven thousands people live in the South Bronx and 40% of the population live in poverty. Most of them lost their jobs during the recession caused by bankers on the other side of the river.
In the documentary, it was shown an experiment that was done by Paul K Piff, a social-psychologist. The experiments was centered on the game of Monopoly. In this experiment, the rich player and the poor player were determined randomly by coin toss. The rich player was given certain a prior advantages such as: twice the money, greater ability to move around the board (more than two dice), and more access to resources (higher bonuses for passing ‘go’). The experiment showed that the rich player felt they he/she deserved to win and showed no concern toward the poor player, who did not have a chance of winning the game. In reality, most people experienced the game of monopoly and found it not fair. If you are not born in a well-established family, you do not have same level of resources like other people. People are struggling to put food on the table and money is already in the hand of other people. The idea of American dream is a fantasy for most people in the U.S.A.
Americans are told that American is the land of opportunity but where are the chances of living on the other side when people making the laws are benefited from the wealthiest people in America. David Koch is the riches person who lives in the Park Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Koch donated money to politicians, to gain political power and use money for their favor. Paul Ryan received more money from Koch brothers than any other member of congress. He proposed a plan Path to prosperity. It was a budget proposal that will dramatically cut down government programs from the poor and while handing out bigger tax cut for the rich. His program is ridiculous! Middle class and lower class people do not have a voice in their government no more because wealthy people like David Koch have huge influence on their politicians. Wealthy people using political system and investing in policies for their favor.
In the documentary, Tim Phillips said that his mom used to tell him that “it does not matter where you begin, what matters is where you end. You live in the United States of America.” I disagree with the statement because it does matter where you begin in the United States of America. If you are not born in a wealthy white family then you are mostly likely not going to have resources to prosper. We were told that education is the key to move upward mobility but now the cost of higher education is out of reach. The U.S. economy is in desperate need for skilled labor in manufacturing, high tech and health industries, but they aren’t enough qualified workers for those jobs even with 12 million unable to find jobs. Training education program are being slashed by both parties in favor of tax cuts for rich. Once middle class now having hard time meeting their basic needs.
One year before the documentary was released, Occupy Wall Street arose in response to the middle class people who were getting battered by economic forces beyond their control, while elites in the private and public sector prospered. People assembled at Zuccotti Park with the intention of occupying Wall Street to protest greed and corruption in the financial system. During the first week of the occupation, people camped out and crafted a motto ("We are the 99 %"). Within a month, the Occupy movement gained momentum, spreading to cities across the U.S. and around the world. Occupy Wall Street is the global movement that shows the huge difference between the wealth of the one percent and what the majority of the United States population has.

The film “Park Avenue: Money, Power, and the American Dream” examines the production of wealth inequality in the United States.

Moreover, a different kind of inequality is prominent in India, which is gender inequality. Women are oppressed all around the world, and it is more noticeable in India. They are misused, degraded, violated and segregated both in homes and in the outside world. Social and economic processes produce and reproduce gender inequality within the community and the family. Son Preference and Daughter Neglect in India talks about the ideology of son preference in India and what it means for the health and care of girls who survive infancy. A key reason driving gender inequality is the preference for sons, as they are viewed as more valuable than girls. Boys are given the special rights to acquire the family name and properties and they are seen as extra status of their family. Furthermore, the parents’ prospect of losing a daughter to the husband’s family and expensive dowry of daughters further discourages parents from having daughters and is a disincentive for investing in their girls during youth. All these factors make sons more desirable. Thus, a combination of factors has shaped the imbalanced view of sexes in India. In disadvantaged families, daughters face discrimination in the medical treatment of illnesses and in the administration of vaccinations against serious childhood diseases. Son Preference and Daughter Neglect in India states that by age 5, six percent more girls than boys are severely stunted, and 13 percent more girls than boys are unvaccinated. Girls with two or more older sisters are the most neglected. They have the highest likelihood of being stunted and are much less likely to be fully immunized than boys with two or more sisters. These practices were a cause of health and survival inequality for girls. While gender discrimination is a universal phenomenon in poor nations, the Son Preference article showed that

social norm-based gender discrimination leads to gender inequality in India.
Gender inequality has been a historic worldwide phenomena, a human creation based on gender assumptions, especially evident in Indian culture. It is connected to traditional rules rooted in cultures and gender norms. In this essay, the example article Son Preference and Daughter Neglect in India shows how cultural influences favor the preference of sons for reasons related to inheritance, status, religious responsibilities and economic security.

Inequality is the condition of being unequal, lack of equality, disparity, inequality of size, and social disparity. Social, economic, and political processes produce and reproduce inequality on global, national, community, the family. 740 Park in Manhattan is currently home to the highest concentration of billionaires in the country. Upward mobility is increasingly out of reach for the poor and middle class are barely scrapping by. Lastly, as to the charitable organizations noted in the video, this effort would be far better served in terms of reducing inequality if the “privileged” members of these groups spent their time and money pressuring Congress to raise the income tax rate on the richest Americans and their corporations and increase social programs. This will more effectively reduced income inequality, but it will not happen because money and power equals greed.

The documentary used blueprint of the apartment buildings to show the viewers how lavishly the wealthy people are living while others are scrapping by.