Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Income inequality in the united states essay
Income inequality in the united states essay
Unequal distribution of wealth
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Income inequality in the united states essay
Economics in United States has drastically changed than early 1800’s. Government has taxed more than they ever have which led to many problems like people getting evicted because taxes were too high to pay and many people were ending up being homeless. From 2000 through 2006 American people in poverty has increased 15% .One-quarter of American workers make less than $10 per hour with a annual income less than $20,614. While the average American are struggling to provide for their family while the rich people are getting richer. Big corporate and well known companies profit increased 13 percent per year and the CEO are making about $7.08 million, 356 time than it’s average employee pay which is about $19,906 according to a article “ Income …show more content…
Inequality in American” by Kimberly Amadeo. Economics Inequality has changed a lot since the early 1900’s.
An average American is struggling while the rich people are getting richer. The wealth owned by the top 0.1 percent has increased by 22 percent in 2012 but in 1970 wealth owned by the top 0.1 percent was only 7 percent. The top 0.1 percent includes about 100,000 families with total money of more than $20 million in 2012. The unequal distribution money was all connected to the Great Depression that took place in 1929 to 1939. During 1920’s also known as “Roaring Twenties” people had more ideas and new invention due to industrial revolution and discovery of electricity that led to many new invention that people wanted and bought. The top 0.1 of population earned more what the bottom 42% people earned which led to unequal distribution of the money. Economics Inequality has increased since 1970’s due to many factors. Families who were already rich before in 1900’s their children just inherited the money. This case mostly applied to white families because back in in the day racism played a big factor for getting jobs. Another reason is that the top 25 percent are well paid government workers, politician, entrepreneurs, or have a really good investment in stocks. In United States, people favors rich people over poor so the rich people have more opportunities and a better future than a poor and that’s the reason why economics inequality has increased over
1970. Political and economics are both a major factor that we American still can not figure out and it is a problem still to this day. The connection between economics and political is pretty simple. For economics inequality if you have a lot of money you have better opportunities in life. It is similar idea to political inequality. If you have more money than the other politician you probably are going to have more influence on people and your voice is heard more if you are well known politician. Politician are a small group of people who is pretty wealthy and has more influence over the society whereas if you are a small politician with little money it is very hard to put yourself out there and the main reason for that is insufficient funds . Most of the poor people in United States don’t put their vote in because they are not satisfied with the government and the ways things work. Most poor family already know that most of politician these day are in it for the money but there are also a lot of politicians who wants to see United States prosper. I believe the first thing people would want to do when it comes to economics inequality would be increasing the minimum wage and government creating good paying jobs for the poor and middle class family. If we do get our minimum wage I believe middle class families will not feel left out that much because with more money there are more opportunities you can have in life. Another main point is investing more money in education especially college education because not that many student go to college because of the tuition so instead they start working and saving for college but by the time they have money their motivation would already be gone. People probably want government funding more money to poor neighborhoods and schools so they have much better education and a brighter future. Most people from poor areas do not get opportunity in life and they are looked down on. So my last point to address the problem would be giving everyone equal opportunity. Minimum Wage Fairness Act which was introduced in 2013 helped a lot of family because they increased the minimum wage to $9 per hour. It is estimated that minimum wage would be $20 by 2020 which will help a lot of unprivileged families. A major law that was passes was when students got free education K-12. This helped many of unprivileged students because they got a education which was free which led to having better future in their life. For example, in my home country Nepal their use to a fee to receive education and the amount that people had to pay was pretty high but if they did not pay in time students were kicked out of the school. In conclusion, economics and political inequality is still plays a big factor in United States and has affected many people. But if we make our voices heard maybe there will be changes for the future generations and everyone is paid and looked at the same. People in United States would be much happier seeing less poverties, more jobs opportunities and higher minimum wages.
Let's take it back to the past in regards to wealth distribution in this country. The fact is that the economy boomed from the end of WWII into the 1970's. “Incomes grew rapidly and at roughly the same rate up and down the income ladder, roughly doubling in inflation-adjusted terms between the late 1940s and early 1970s” (CBPP). Through the 70's economic growth slowed, and the wealth gap widened. Middle-class families were now considered lower class. People relied on the government to help them out with welfare programs. The middle-class class was weakened and the gap grew and grew. There were periods of positive fluctuation, however the middle-class simply never regained it's status that was held in more prosperous times in the past.
In a country where 45 million people struggle to survive below the poverty line, inflation continues to rise as wages remain the same. What happened to the American Dream? As the rich continue to get richer, even those in the middle class can’t seem to catch a break. The structure of American society makes it nearly impossible for those in poverty to rise above, and there are other factors, including race and gender, which play a role.
the early American economy was described by littler, nearby markets, revolved around huge urban communities. The boundless extension of the railways in the late 1800s changed this, entwining the nation into one national business sector, in which merchandise could be transported available to be purchased the nation over. The railways likewise gave a gigantic force to financial development since they themselves gave such an enormous business sector to products steel and timber, for instance. In the late nineteenth century the railways spoke to the primary "enormous business." The railroad business was the biggest single boss of work in the U.S., and institutionalized America financially, socially, and socially.
Is America going to collapse due to our economic inequality? During the second major industrialization, extreme wealth hit America and monopolies were born in the business world as well as more defined classes based on wealth. Robber barons like Vanderbilt, Carnegie and Rockefeller held a new kind of wealth, owning industries while the workers under them lived in the slums of the city. Modern day America has founded laws against monopolies and such, but we are seeing the three standard American classes of wealth, upper, middle and lower, change. The upper class becoming wealthier, the middle class disappearing and joining the ever growing lower class. The article “Trouble with the Super-Rich” by Barbara Ehrenreich brings to front the problem
The 1920’s was a period of extremely economic growth and personal wealth. America was a striving nation and the American people had the potential to access products never manufactured before. Automobile were being made on an assembly line and were priced so that not just the rich had access to these vehicles, as well as, payment plans were made which gave the American people to purchase over time if they couldn't pay it all up front. Women during the First World War went to work in place of the men who went off to fight. When the men return the women did not give up their positions in the work force. Women being giving the responsibility outside the home gave them a more independent mindset, including the change of women's wardrobe, mainly in the shortening of their skirts.
Briefly state the main idea of this article: The main idea of this article is that economic inequality has steadily risen in the United States between the richest people and the poorest people. And this inequality affects the people in more ways than buying power; it also affects education, life expectancy, living conditions and possibly happiness. Another idea that he brought up was that the American government tends to give less help to the unemployed than other rich countries.
Our economy does not serve the purpose that it was designed to do which is to provide decent wages to the hard workers and keep prices lower than the wages. I believe that Americans are kept in the dark about the income inequality so that the rich can keep getting richer while the working class remains at the bottom struggling to make ends meet at every paycheck.
Throughout the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century, the United States economy changed dramatically as the country transformed from a rural agricultural nation to an urban industrial gian, becoming the leading manufacturing country in the world. The vast expansion of the railroads in the late 1800s’ changed the early American economy by tying the country together into one national market. The railroads provided tremendous economic growth because it provided a massive market for transporting goods such as steel, lumber, and oil. Although the first railroads were extremely successful, the attempt to finance new railroads originally failed. Perhaps the greatest physical feat late 19th century America was the creation of the transcontinental railroad. The Central Pacific Company, starting in San Francisco, and the new competitor, Union Pacific, starting in Omaha. The two companies slaved away crossing mountains, digging tunnels, and laying track the entire way. Both railroads met at Promontory, Utah on May 10, 1869, and drove one last golden spike into the completed railway. Of course the expansion of railroads wasn’t the only change being made. Another change in the economy was immigration.
American history between 1865 and 1900 is characterized as the Gilded Age. Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner coined this term; it means that this era, from the outside, appeared prosperous, but with a closer look, one could discover the corruption that lay beneath the thin layer of gold. This era was filled with urbanization, industrialization, and immigration; these three things gave the Gilded Age the appearance of being a prosperous time filled with progress. However, the American industrial worker, the bulwark of the age, did not prosper as much as one may have thought. American industrial workers faced extremely difficult lives, working very hard to receive little reward, and it did not take very long before they wanted reform. The industrial workers banded together, forming labor unions, in order to try to negotiate with their employers to have some of their demands met. Labor unions are generally thought of as having positive effects on workers, which certainly was true, but only to an extent. Labor unions also had some very negative effects on workers, specifically when their demands were not met, or when they were seen negatively by the government and the public. Immigration rates during the Gilded Age were extremely high, because the United States had great opportunities, especially in available jobs, which were greatly desirable to foreign people. Immigration generally had negative effects on American industrial workers. With large numbers of immigrants coming from foreign countries, there was a surplus of labor which caused unemployment and wages to remain low. Also, immigration had great effects on labor unions, generally negative as well, which would then in turn negatively affect the workers in that union. Last...
The highest earning fifth of U.S. families earned 59.1% of all income, while the richest earned 88.9% of all wealth. A big gap between the rich and poor is often associated with low social mobility, which contradicts the American ideal of equal opportunity. Levels of income inequality are higher than they have been in almost a century, the top one percent has a share of the national income of over 20 percent (Wilhelm). There are a variety of factors that influence income inequality, a few of which will be discussed in this paper. Rising income inequality is caused by differences in life expectancy, rapidly increases in the incomes of the top 5 percent, social trends, and shifts in the global economy.
Between the end of World War II and the late 1970s, income inequality in the U.S. was reduced; but since 1970s, the situation with wealth distribution has changed. Data from tax returns in 1976 show that the top 1 percent of households received 8.9 percent of all pre-tax income. In 2008, the top 1 percent’s share had more than doubled to 21.0 percent.
3. What are the effects of this wealth inequality in the US and what causes it, as well as some possible solutions and their ramifications, will all be discussed and answered below. There has always been a wealth gap between the richest and poorest in society. However, in the past decade, the wealth gap between the richest and poorest citizens in the US has been growing rapidly. In the 70s and 80s, the wealth and income growth rate for both poor and rich people were similar, however, between the years 2009 and 2012 the top 1% income increased 31% while for the bottom 20%, their income actually dropped and for the vast majority of Americans, the average yearly income only increased by 0.4% [4].
The inequality issues of America are becoming severe. Not all men are created equal. The belief that everyone can reach the American Dream with the right attitude is not rational. The wages in America are not as high as they are portrayed. Some people’s beliefs and life choices can affect their place in society. The level you are at in the economy has everything to do with where you fall in the social pyramid.
Is Inequality in America really as bad as we perceive it? In America, we have many people discussing back and forth on the issue of inequality. Some people claim that inequality is a rapidly growing phenomenon, separating the rich from the poor. Though, other Americans claim that we’re progressing and departing away from inequality. However, the way in which we choose to perceive inequality is our choice, but we cannot ignore the fact that it exist. Inequality is an issue that has been constantly debated in the past, and will continue to be debated, so long as we do not put an end to it. Inequality is changing our country. The people who enjoy higher social statuses are spending their money with no limitations, whereas the people in the lower
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...