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The role of income in inequality of distribution of wealth in america
The role of income in inequality of distribution of wealth in america
The role of income in inequality of distribution of wealth in america
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America is divided into social groups based on the income and financial assets of its citizens. One of the groups which forms part of the social system are the “mass affluent.” The mass affluent are portrayed as people who make more than the mass market, but less than one million. Mass affluent households generally hold from 250,000 to 1 million in income and financial liquid assets. More than 13 million households in the U.S. are mass affluent accounting for 11 percent of all U.S households (Nielsen.com).The mass affluent are the largest group part of the wealth management segment. The mass affluent social group falls between the middle class and the wealthiest of consumers. The typical mass affluent consumers is usually white, married, holds a white collar job and lives in a two income household with one child. The mass affluent are characterized as individuals who live a distinct lifestyle compared to the rest of the consumer market when it comes to financial preferences and media consumption. This social group lives in the suburbs, are empty nesters and form part of the baby boomer generation. Consumers part of the mass affluent hold white collar jobs in finance, business management and hold multiple investment accounts. Well-educated and very sophisticated these consumers do not classify themselves as rich. These individuals do not classify themselves as rich but have multiple investment accounts including 401k, IRAs, and CDs. The typical mass affluent consumer does not take many shopping trips but spends more money on each trip than the average customer (Nielsen.com). Two thirds of the mass affluent are 55 years old and older which is why so many are turning to IRAs. The mass affluent social group with approximately 22 mill...
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...ear price and communication. If the financial services firms focus on providing special services to the mass affluent including bundles, the mass affluent will begin to take part in financial services at an even higher rate than the affluent. Banks must offer proper services and advisory services for which the segment is willing to pay for without feeling ripped off. Holding the 43 percent of the world’s wealth the mass affluent are underserved and deserve their time to have the same services offered in the banking industry as the mass affluent. If the banking industry provides outstanding services to the affluent, the American social system should not hinder the mass affluent segment from obtaining financial advice. It is time for a change in the American banking industry and the mass affluent are the future of the movement for an affordable lifestyle for everyone.
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
While she was working the minimum wage life she would talk about the rich as selfish people who struck luck and got all their money that way. She says, “ Since the rich have become more numerous, thanks largely to rising stock prices and executive salaries” (Ehrenreich 109). She explains that the rich are becoming more numerous as a result of stocks and executive salaries growing. The New York Times says, "Data Reveal a Rise in College Degrees Among Americans” (Rampell 1). The article says that more and more Americans are earning college degrees over the years. This is the reason why the successful are
The United States lending industry’s main focus has become accentuating profits; therefore, they have made it impossible to live without a credit card in today’s economy and to avoid being taken advantage of by the banks. James Scurlock, director and producer of the film, “Maxed Out”, devotes his movie to informing the audience of the credit card system and its many flaws and gives examples of people who are majorly affected by the pressure the lenders apply. Throughout the movie, numerous statistics, and expert testimonies are presented, as well as comparisons and appeals to emotion. Through the use of this support Scurlock, is able to convey his overall message and propose numerous minor arguments that clarify his argument and make it more credible.
Time and time again we hear politicians and office holders preach the need for a powerful middle-class. You may then be surprised to hear that “about 82% of America’s net worth belongs to the top 20%, the next 80% of people only own about 18% of America’s wealth” (UCSC). Some may argue that this disproportion is the beauty of capitalism, the chance to create an empire. I argue that the proportions are simply unfair. Why is it that “ the average CEO makes 350X as much as his/her employee” (UCSC)?
America is divided into two main groups, rich or poor. There is some grey area among these groups which is referred to as the middle class. The problem with the middle class is that most people think they belong in the middle class because they do not want to associate themselves with neither rich nor poor; there are stigmas attached to each side of the spectrum.
The era that marked the end of civil war and the beginning of the twentieth century in the united states of America was coupled with enormous economic and industrial developments that attracted diverse views and different arguments on what exactly acquisition of wealth implied on the social classes in the society. It was during this time that the Marxist and those who embraced his ideologies came out strongly to argue their position on what industrial revolution should imply in an economic world like America. In fact, there was a rapid rise in the gross national product of the United States between 1874 and 1883. This actually sparked remarkable consequences on the political, social and economic impacts. In fact, the social rejoinder to industrialization had extensive consequences on the American society. This led to the emergence of social reform movements to discourse on the needs of the industrialized society. Various theories were developed to rationalize the widening gap between the rich and the poor. Various reformers like Andrew Carnegie, Henry George and William Graham Sumner perceived the view on the obligation of the wealthy differently. This paper seeks to address on the different views held by these prominent people during this time of historical transformations.
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
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act’s policies haven’t really been implemented to the extent that regulators would have liked. Although the legislation takes many steps in addressing systematic risks in the United States financial system and improving coordination among regulators, some critics believe that alternative options might have been more effective. The coming years will give us a better understanding of how well the Dodd-Frank Act addressed these concerns.
Two exceptions to the class avoidance phenomenon: discussion about the middle class as acceptable and presenting glimpses of the poor and wealthy that conform to common stereotypes. Americans are misinformed to believe the following myths: class distinctions are non-existent, middle-class is the norm, everyone is getting richer, and the chances of success are equal for everyone. The U.S. has the highest income gap between the wealthiest and poorest in the industrial world, which is approximately 12 to 1. In 2004, the affluent experienced a wage increase by 12%, whereas the 99% of average income makers saw an increase of 1%. The Making of the Ghetto: One of the biggest forms of equity is home ownership, and between 1933 and 1978, the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) supported millions of Americans by providing small down payments and reasonable payment plans, if they fell within their requirements.
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...
“The truth is, that, once in every half-century, at longest, a family should be merged into the great, obscure mass of humanity, and forget all about its ancestors” (Hawthorne 155) explains Holgrave about the aristocratic roots of the Pyncheon family in The House of the Seven Gables. In this novel, Nathaniel Hawthorne creates a story that effectively describes the clash between the decaying aristocracy and the emerging laboring class in the nineteenth-century in America through its characters. This “gothic romance” tells the story of an aristocratic Pyncheon family that once was wealthy, but now encounters itself with poverty and scarcity to the point that the old maid, Hepzibah Pyncheon, must open up a cent-shop in the house in order to survive. Through out the novel, Hawthorne uses Hepzibah to show the reader the inevitable process of transformation from the high aristocracy to the lower middle class that every aristocrat had to go trough in those times.
Finances play a part in everyone’s lives. According to critics, the generation of Millennials have not been the most accomplished in this area. However, new information is on the rise, and it shows that Millennials are becoming more financially stable. The generation of Millennials is a broad group. The group of Millennials associated in this discussion are from the beginning of the Millennial generation, which are those born between the 1980s and 1990s. The Millennials generation itself ranges from the 1980s to 2004. After the Great Recession, the older generation of Millennials had a massive setback with financial security. Since then, Millennials have always been known for having poor finances by critics. Millennials may not
In the October 10, 2011 issue of Time, there is a feature called “The Great American Divide” that reports on money: who has it, who is spending it on what, and how as a country Americans feel about it. This feature also reports something troubling, how the gap between rich and poor is once again growing wide (Sachs, 2011). Shifts in spending, shifts in money control, and a struggle with how to deal with the great money crisis America and Europe face are all discussed in this feature. This feature pulls together how GDP, unemployment rates, consumer consumption, and pricing affect this era of volatility and the shrinking middle class (Foroohar, 2011). This feature also reflects on inflation, economic growth, political stability in emerging markets and taxes play in as well. The answer to solving this imbalance of wealth and the struggling economy may be found by government action, but will it be too late?
Most millionaires have worked 45-55 hours per week throughout their life, and are now retired with money. Half of the millionaires have wives that stay home to cook, clean, and care for the children. Most are first-generation and own a house. These facts surprised me. I thought in order to be wealthy, it meant being young and only working 40 hours per week. I thought male millionaires had wives that were bringing in a second income to help accumulate wealth. I figured most millionaires owned a house, but I thought they lived in big houses in “rich” neighborhoods, not a regular house. I thought that someone was born wealthy and then that wealth just was passed down generation to generation. If you ask what an average person thinks of when they hear the word wealthy, they will describe someone who owns many luxury goods. However, after reading The Millionaire Next Door, I learned that millionaires are happier saving their money than spending
There are some arguments, having a faint measure of plausibility, that have served politicians, charlatans and assorted do-gooders for well for over a century in their quest for control. One of those arguments is: capitalism primarily benefits the rich and not the common man. That vision prompts declarations such as: Congressman Richard Gephart's assertion that high income earners are "winners" in "the lottery of life." Then there's, Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor, who says high income earners the "fortunate fifth." These nonsensical visions lead to calls for those who've been "blessed" to "give back" either voluntarily or coercively through the tax code.