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Wealth distribution in the usa
Wealth distribution in the usa
Wealth distribution in the usa
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The American deficit grows every day, along with the wealth divide between the wealthiest and poorest Americans. The nation’s financial standing is worsening by the second, and something must be done to improve it. The richest Americans are only getting richer in this time of economic crisis, and tax increases for the wealthy are a viable way to more equally distribute wealth throughout the lower classes in the United States. It may be true that some of the wealthiest citizens have earned their money, but action should be taken to help the struggling majority of the country instead of the privileged few. The United States has a responsibility to give the lower classes an opportunity to rise out of poverty, and if the lower class continues to grow like it is now, this nation could have larger problems to deal with in the future.
Over the past three decades, tax rates on high incomes have fallen sharply as politicians have attempted to improve the financial standing of the lower classes. Over this time, however, it has been the income of the wealthy that has increased, not the poor. In fact, income inequality has skyrocketed over the last few decades, and President Obama’s recent tax increases for the wealthy have only improved income inequality numbers by a fragment of what it has risen to currently (Krugman 1). The lower classes are suffering as the upper classes continue to thrive, and this must be improved if the United States expects to be a global economic leader. The tax cuts for the wealthy have caused the great divide between classes to separate further, and tax increases for the wealthiest Americans will not only help to improve this income gap, but they can fund programs that will help the lower classes. In Oct...
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...late the economy have been proven ineffective, as they promote inequality between wealth classes. We can benefit everyone through these increased taxes, funding new programs and distributing wealth more equally among the population. The wealthy may disagree, but in a country increasingly divided by income, we may not have a choice.
Works Cited
Grynbaum, Michael M. “Higher Taxes in de Blasio’s Schools Push.” Nytimes.com. The New York Times Company, 4 Oct. 2012. Web. 23 Jan. 2014.
Hughes, Siobhan. “Report: Tax Cuts for Wealthy Linked to Income Inequality.” Wsj.com. Dow Jones & Company, 14 Sep. 2012. Web. 23 Jan. 2014.
Krugman, Paul. “Taxing the Rich.” Nytimes.com. The New York Times Company, 28 May 2013. Web. 23 Jan. 2014.
Reich, Robert. “Taxing the Rich is Good for the Economy.” Marketplace.org. American Public Media, 18 Apr. 2012. Web. 23 Jan. 2014.
In Confronting Inequality, Paul Krugman discusses the cost of inequality and possible solutions. Krugman argues to say that it is a fantasy to believe the rich live just like the middle class. Then, he goes into detail about how middle class families struggle to try to give their children a better life and how education plays a factor in children’s future lives. For example, children’s ability to move into higher education could be affected by their parents economic status. Also, He discusses how politicians play a role in the inequality, because most of politicians are in the upper economic class. Finally, Krugman says how we could possibly have solutions to these various inequalities, but how America won’t get
According to Gregory Mantsios many American people believed that the classes in the United States were irrelevant, that we equally reside(ed) in a middle class nation, that we were all getting richer, and that everyone has an opportunity to succeed in life. But what many believed, was far from the truth. In reality the middle class of the United States receives a very small amount of the nation's wealth, and sixty percent of America's population receives less than 6 percent of the nation's wealth, while the top 1 percent of the American population receives 34 percent of the total national wealth. In the article Class in America ( 2009), written by Gregory Mantsios informs us that there are some huge differences that exist between the classes of America, especially the wealthy and the poor. After
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.
With each class comes a certain level in financial standing, the lower class having the lowest income and the upper class having the highest income. According to Mantsios’ “Class in America” the wealthiest one percent of the American population hold thirty-four percent of the total national wealth and while this is going on nearly thirty-seven million Americans across the nation live in unrelenting poverty (Mantsios 284-6). There is a clear difference in the way that these two groups of people live, one is extreme poverty and the other extremely
Wilhelm, Heather “The Great Income Inequality Sham” Real Clear Politics. May 2013. Web. 29 Apr 2014.
In the United States there are four social classes : the upper class, the middle class, the working class, and the lower class. Of these four classes the most inequality exists between the upper class and the lower class. This inequality can be seen in the incomes that the two classes earn. During the period 1979 through the present , the growth in income has disproportionately grown.The bottom sixty percent of the US population actually saw their real income decrease in 1990 dollars. The next 20% saw medium gains. The top twenty percent saw their income increase 18%. The wealthiest one percent saw their incomes rise drastically over 80%. As reported in the 1997 Center on Budget's analysis , the wealthiest one percent of Americans ( 2.6 million people) received as much after-tax income in 1994 as the bottom 35 percent of the population combined (88 million people). But in 1977 the bottom 35 percent had about twice as much after tax income as the top one percent. These statistics further show the disproportional income growth among the social classes. The gr...
Wealth inequality is a real issue that needs to be fixed. The imbalanced growth of the upper class compared to the middle class is a danger to American society as a whole. The rich becoming richer while the middle class remains the same leads to a power imbalance, with the rich using their money to run the country the way they see fit while the middle class speaks to ears that do not listen. The issue of wealth inequality needs to be fixed by raising taxes on the rich.
Scarborough, Joe. “Top 1% Took 95% of Gains Since 2009.” Tampa Bay Times. January 21, 2014. Web. March 11, 2014. In this article the authors shows how income inequality has been changing over the time. He also tries to emphasize how large this gap has become by comparing income and taxation of the top 1% with the rest of the nation.
Reich, Robert. "Why the Rich Are Getting Richer and the Poor Poorer." Mountain View College Reader. Neuleib, Janice. Cain S., Kathleen. Ruffus, Stephen. Boston: 501 Boylston Street, Suite 900. 2013 Print.
"Wealth Inequality in the United States." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Apr. 2014. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
Reich, Robert B. “Why the Rich Are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer.” A World of Ideas:
Divisions within the social stratum is a characteristic of societies in various cultures and has been present throughout history. During the middle ages, the medieval feudal system prevailed, characterized by kings and queens reigning over the peasantry. Similarly, in today’s society, corporate feudalism, otherwise known as Capitalism, consists of wealthy elites dominating over the working poor. Class divisions became most evident during America’s Gilded Age and Progressive era, a period in time in which the rich became richer via exploitation of the fruits of labor that the poor persistently toiled to earn. As a result, many Americans grew compelled to ask the question on everyone’s mind: what do the rich owe the poor? According to wealthy
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...
Hart Research Associates, 2010. Reich, Robert. “Why the Rich Are Getting Richer and the Poor Poorer.” The Work of Nations.
...ot let this inequality gap continues to rise; therefore, the government needs to tax heavily onto the rich people, and redistribute their money to the poor.