In the United States, unequal distribution of income is a major issue caused by several factors. Some people may not be able to work high-paying jobs because they don't have the necessary skills or abilities. Some people may not have the required education. There are many causes for unequal income, but there is one cause that predominates the rest: discrimination. In our society, there are many groups of people who are unable to receive equal treatment because of some factor, whether it be their age, gender, or race. These factors ultimately cause people to be treated differently, and in many cases it affects their income. Discrimination is the predominant cause of income inequality. Discrimination against gender is one of the many causes of …show more content…
Although discrimination based on race is illegal, it is still present in our society. Businesses and companies may favor one race over the other. Colleges, even, many have a higher acceptance rate for specific races, and education is the key to success. If a specific race isn't usually accepted into a well known college, it may be harder for that group of people to find employment later on. Some employers may feel as though their jobs are reserved for a specific race, such as white people. If this were the case and other races were not able to get employed by that manager, then income would be unequally distributed based on race. Sometime in the workplace, people may be treated differently based on their race. A black woman may not receive as many benefits as an asian woman, or may be paid less than a white woman. Discrimination against races still exists, and many people are not being hired, treated differently at work, or even being fired because of their race. It's sad, really, that people's origins and ancestry are being used to determine their "worth", and are rendering some groups unable to find employment and produce income. Discrimination against races is a major issue, and is a huge cause of the income
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.
Income inequality has been and will forever continue to be a highly discussed topic in society. As a social experiment, income equality has historically failed. The adage from the communist era “from each according to his ability; to each according to his needs,” ran counter to human nature and experience. On balance, there are positive aspects to unequal income which include; its success in creating a more educated work force, competition among people to succeed and more stimulated productivity, which do not always, but tend to balance out any negative impacts such as; concentration of wealth, social consequences and outsourcing, that it may have.
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.
America in today's society is burdened with many economic and political problems that have begun to plague the nation. Controversial topics are constantly being debated from sunrise to sunset across the country with supporters and those who oppose each bearing various levels of financial and political misfortune. With the numerous economic and political problems that affect the nation, the argument over the issue of income inequality is one of the most notable. Creating a political civil war, proponents from both sides have brought the issue into national view and debate has grown substantially within recent years.
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.
First we must understand how inequality started. Obviously like I mentioned before there will always be inequalities such as intelligence and looks no matter what. Ignoring that, lets understand how inequality came to be. As soon as a organization is formed is when inequality takes place. In an organization there are different roles that have different powers and ultimately there is some sort of ranking between people in this organization. Understanding this will help you understand why the world is the way it is now. It helps you understand why there is different economic classes and why some people make more money than others. If you ask any sociologist how did inequality emerge in the first place they will tell you it’s because of social conflict and the division of labor. The division of labor is basically referring to when different people take part in a task to improve efficiency. An easy example of this would be a factory or any job you can find. Once positions of power are crated then inequality is formed. Knowing that general idea will help make sense of why inequality is here and why it is very difficult to get rid
Income inequality not only harms us fiscally, but also affects our mental and physical wellbeing; therefore, it is important to identify the right ways to control wealth distribution among people.
The United States has a pervasive issue of income inequality (Volscho & Kelly, 2012). While the wealthy few live in absurd abundance, poor hardworking individuals often cannot afford basic necessities. Such a dynamic is not only an affront to the ideals of equality of opportunity, but also may increase crime as a result of relative deprivation and lack of legitimate opportunities to achieve (Thio, 2010). This essay describes the magnitude of income inequality in the United States, reveals barriers that obscures its magnitude, and suggests a starting point from which corrective measures might develop.
Income inequality is a big ongoing problem in the United States. It has a big effect on what America was all about, the American dream. The American dream that everyone is equal and has equal opportunities. Although a big part of what goes on in the Untied States that just doesn’t fit the American dream; women are unequal in the work place. They are put under what is known as the “Glass Ceiling”. Women do not get promoted in the work place and aren’t getting equal pay as men. This also leads to wag gap between the men and women. Both create income inequality for women and affect their American Dream. There is a long history of women having to deal with the “Glass Ceiling”. Over time woman have made progress but more progress is needed to make things equal. Women suffer from income inequality because of the “Glass Ceiling” and wag gap, thus going against the American Dream.
Recently, studies have shown that income inequality has many connections that have caused the gap in the United States. According to the research I found, income inequality is connected to corruption, trade, wages of workers, and education. The world income inequality had declined since the twentieth century according to the studies found (Clark). Corruption falls increasing on low income individuals more than higher income individuals. Additionally, the trade theory suggests that the free trade might have level up the income inequality higher within countries by the different patterns of wages and demand for workers who are skilled and unskilled (Silva and Leichenko). Moreover, the education of wealthier people has it easier because the learning efforts of education are unbalanced. Besides, income inequality in the United States is hurting our economy due to the all the issues of corruption, trade, wages, and education. Suggested by Robert H. Frank article called “Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore,” the income inequality is bad for our economy (Frank).
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...
Globalization, which is specifically the expansion of trade, encourages worldwide consumption and makes the world become a ‘global village’ (Chanda, 2007). However, it also leads to many serious environmental and social problems such as the collapse in biodiversity, climate change, financial crisis and inequality (Goldin, 2009). Among all the problems, income inequality is the most serious one and two widely used methods to soften its impacts are raising the minimum wage and taxing the rich.
The line was extremely long and people would be camped outside just so they could see a doctor. Many people who were there had serious injuries and sicknesses and hadn’t seen a doctor or dentist in a very long time. One gentleman in particular was so sick that the doctors strongly suggested he go to the emergency room, that his sickness could be fatal. However, in the end, the gentlemen refused to go to the emergency because the medical bill would be extremely high. Income inequality is a social problem because a lot of people in society are affected in a negative way because of it.
Income inequality continues to increase in today’s world, especially in the United States. Income inequality means the unequal distribution between individuals’ assets, wealth, or income. In the Twilight of the Elites, Christopher Hayes, a liberal journalist, states the inequality gap between the rich and the poor are increasing widening, and there need to have things done - tax the rich, provide better education - in order to shortening the inequality gap. America is a meritocratic country, which means that everybody has equal opportunity to be successful regardless of their class privileges or wealth. However, equality of opportunity does not equal equality of outcomes. People are having more opportunities to find a better job, but their incomes are a lot less compared to the top ten percent rich people. In this way, the poor people will never climb up the ladder to high status and become millionaires. Therefore, the government needs to increase all the tax rates on rich people in order to reduce income inequality.
If you're hurt or injured on the job, or while carrying out duties related to your job, you are entitled to workers' compensation money. This is true whether you were injured on the premises of your job or off. The only real deciding factor is whether you were doing anything related to your job at the time of your injury. If you were, you are covered under California state law. What is Workers' Compensation?