Wealth inequality is a major risk to human improvement, which undermines social stability and threatens security on a global scale. It is widely acknowledged that extreme wealth inequality is not just morally questionable, but it stunts long-term economic growth too, making it more difficult to reduce poverty. What must now be acknowledged is that extreme income inequality is hazardous, because it also threatens to weaken democratic governance. Increasingly, in rich and poor countries alike, the lowest tax rates, the best health and schooling, and the prospect to influence are being given not just to the rich, but also to their offspring. Without a determined effort to tackle inequality, the cascade of privilege and of hindrance will continue …show more content…
The American education system is deteriorating, and in addition to rising dropout rates, the quality of education has also declined. The failure to invest in education, predominantly at the primary and secondary levels, and to offer equal access to education, threatens the long-term competitiveness of American economy and democracy. Although America’s world class universities and elite private high schools ensure that the wealthiest children receive outstanding educations, far too many working and middle class children are not getting the educations they need and deserve. By not making it to college, these kids who should become primary-care doctors, nurses, and teachers, all professions which are sorely aching for workers, will end up in prison, fighting America’s wars, and working endlessly in low-paying jobs with no hope of ever becoming more than poor/middle class. How can an uneducated individual make an informed vote? How far does word of mouth travel when it comes to laws and elections? Many middle and low class people will not vote simply because they believe they are not knowledgeable enough to do so. As a result, the wealthy continue to take the lead, voting for those who make promises to brighten their futures and fatten their pockets. The main cause of this problem is not how much money is spent on education, but rather how the available funds are used, and while that is no fault of any one child or adult, having some, or a lot of spare change becomes a difference maker. The affluent neighborhoods and areas of town rely on additional donations from parents/guardians to support high-quality public education, but that is only a benefit to the children in their district. Another variable is that parents have basically pulled their children out of public schools and placed them
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.
Within modern society, monetary wealth is the main source of control and power; most people today see wealthy people as “more important” or “more powerful” just cause they have more money than them. Thus in turn giving the wealthy people the upper hand with no one to stand against them allowing them to do as they please. This is the case through many countries around the world. In some countries it varies slightly with the governments listening to there people but taking more influence from these wealthy people, it is on very rare occasion that these people are treated equally with the middle and lower class family’s. A study by Drs Keltner and Piff at the Universit...
Wealth inequality and income inequality are often mistaken as the same thing. Income inequality is the difference of yearly salary throughout the population.1 Wealth inequality is the difference of all assets within a population.2 The United States has a high degree of wealth distribution between rich and poor than any other majorly developed nation.3
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.
Inequality of income, to many, is the seizing of opportunity efficiently, and an expected cause of popular economic systems. However, the inequality that is being exemplified in the world today is a result of a correlation with corruption. Corruption, as in seizing the opportunity for human greed.“corruption is a function of motivation and opportunity”(khagram). As inequality increases so does the motivation for corruption. The nature of this relationship between inequality and corruption can be seen through history, and where it is most prevalent.The U.S has seen its bouts of corruption within political systems, and in order to stop this vicious cycle, we need to be leaders of democratic nations.
What is wealth inequality? “It is the difference between individuals or populations in the distribution of assets, wealth or income.” [1] In sociology, the term is social stratification and refers to “a system of structured social inequality” [2] where the inequality might be in power, resources, social standing/class or perceived worth. In the US, where a class system exist, (as opposed to caste or estate system) your place in the class system can be determined by your personal achievements. However, the economic and social class that an individual is born into is a big indicator of the class they will end up in as an adult. [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.
Throughout American history, wealth inequality has taken many different forms, and has affected many people and groups in different ways. In the following analysis, two measures of 'wealth inequalities' will be used. First is a more traditional view, regarding the distribution of income and wealth among the upper to lower classes. The size of the gap has varied over time, widening and compressing throughout American history. While America has been thought of as a middle class nation, this is a fairly recent phenomena that began after World War II. In this context of today, this idea appears to be fading as wealth is becoming more concentrated towards the upper classes. Additionally, these effects of both the concentration and equalization of income distribution can differently affect groups of people.
Will Durant, a businessman and the founder of General Motors, once said, “Education is the transmission of civilization.” Unfortunately, education is still one of the most deliberated and controversial issues in the United States. Thus far, the privilege or right to receive education has not attained the level of equality throughout the nation; poor districts obtain less educational funding while rich districts obtain more, creating an immense gap between the quality of schools in poor and rich areas.
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 Politics of Performance in Invisible Man Invisible Man, the seminal text of Ralph Ellison, serves as a complex exploration of societal expectations and racial dynamics, with a comprehensive breaking down, through a certain literary malaise, of identity and power structures in the society it portrays. The novel, diving into the politics of the act of creative performance, through its various depictions of the protagonist, supporting characters, and scenes, works to weave a narrative which challenges and addresses the prominence of visibility and invisibility at an individual level. From the protagonist’s tale of invisibility and other internal difficulties, to the external cultural references of Louis Armstrong’s pioneering musical talents, and, particularly, within the symbolic posturing for position embedded within the
Even in this time of struggle, with billions of dollars going towards various war efforts overseas, America still has managed to keep taxpayer investments in education higher than that of funds for national defense (U.S Department of Education). In the 2004-05 school year, there was an estimated amount of 536 billion dollars set aside from taxpayer investment for education purposes. Without a doubt, education is a priority for the American government, and if these funds are used in the correct way, there is no reason why each and every kid in the United States shouldn’t be getting a quality education. However, the organization of the financial system is flawed, funds are not handled proportionately at the state level; rather, this system favors the wealthier districts and hands more funds to them while the less wealthier districts are handed a smaller pool of funds. This really affects America’s quality of education, which also reflects upon how America fairs on the world stage when it comes to competition in education with other countries. The disorganization of funds in the United States can be seen in the Hoover City School district, which has bought every student in that district an iPad for use in school. The first problem with this is that this school district does not even have a viable bus system that can transport students to and from school. Secondly, not even 20 miles from this district lies the Birmingham City School district where a little more than half the students are graduating, compared to Hoover City Schools where a bit more than 90 percent of the students are graduating. If anything, the state should be working towards improving educational standards in lower-income communities rather than debating on the log...
The way money is distributed within the United States is unbalanced, with the majority of the wealthy owning the bulk of the country’s wealth. Wealth can be defined as a person’s assets and monetary gains. This unequal distribution has caused numerous economic and geographical problems, such as how resources are divided among countries, how developed or industrialized a country is in relation to wealth distribution and the wide spread of disease and lack of medical attention due to an absence of money. In this paper I will address the negative and positive aspects associated with wealth distribution. I will explain how resource distribution contributes to an area’s economic growth. I will also discuss varying ways to measure wealth within and between countries and define and explain the three sectors of the economy. The United States has not seen such staggering figures between the wealthy and the poor since the great depression. In my opinion, many of our countries problems stem from the unequal distribution of wealth.
There is no doubt that the differentiation in social class can have great effects on attaining the achievements in education [ref]. In Britain, parents’ social classes have been an important factor in determining their children’s access to higher education. So, it is required to know the different types of social classes. Social classes can be categorized into three different types which are (1) high class or service class which contains large employers, professors and managers, (2) middle or intermediate class including small employers and non-manual workers and (3) manual working class which belongs to agricultural labors and unskilled workers (Egerton et al., 1993). With regard to these various kinds of social backgrounds, the educational
As we prosper through time, inequality is slowly less evident. A lot of people don't realize that although things are improving with time, inequality is still prominent in our society. The people that are failing to realize that there still is inequality, are the fortunate ones. They rise well above the poverty line, and usually live relatively economically sound lives. They are the people who are supplied with our society's benefits.