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Inequality Undermines Democracy By Eduardo Porter Summary

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The essay Inequality Undermines Democracy by Eduardo Porter discusses the income gap in today’s world. The first main point Porter describes how Americans are not concerned with the income gap even though it is wider than other developed countries. The United States government has expressed little concern over this issue as well since they have done little to anything to restrain the trend. I believe this has caused opportunities across classes to shrink and the middle class does not exist anymore. I would consider my family a working middle class and I hear my family talking about how the middle class has diminished and it is either the rich or the poor. This has made it very difficult on my family because all of their hard work is not being accounted for. Most importantly, I believe there is not a change or a movement in regards to the income gap because the …show more content…

Many Americans want all the pressure on the government to make the change but I believe the change needs to start with voters. To me, there is not a reason for people to believe that this trend will be reversed due to technological developments and globalization. I found this to be interesting since Americans are always complaining how the rich as too much money and the middle and lower class suffer. Why has nothing been done?
The second main point discussed is how inequality plays a factor into the income gap in the United States. As Porter explains, we have accepted income inequality because we believe capitalism would not be able to work without it. I can now see how much influence capitalism has on this country in particular. A quote that I believe best explains this is “if

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Paul Krugman author of the article “Confronting Inequality” stresses the inequality of our social classes in the United States, he uses statistics to demonstrate the staggering consequences of this inequality within our social classes. Krugman emphasizes the fact that a majority of our wealth is owned by about one percent of the population, which is leaving the middle and lower class at an extreme disadvantage. One example Krugman uses is education; children that have wealthy families, have a higher percentage of finishing college than those of lower income families, proving the statement that Krugman was accentuating, “Class-inherited class- usually trumps talent.” The parents within this middle to lower class have been exceed their financial

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In this article by Sean Mcelwee(2014) he talks about why income inequality is the toughest issue America will face in the next few decades. In the article, Why income inequality is America’s biggest (and most difficult) problem, Mcelwee(2014) believes that after the studies he has seen, the most effective way to solve the policy issue of income inequality is by higher taxes on income and wealth. However, the rich would never buy into this solution, because it would take more of their wealth, when the wealthy are trying to maximize their money returns. Mcelwee (2014) also talks about how when a family is wealthy, money tends to stay in the family for 10-15 generations, which is also true for families with lower incomes as stated here by

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In the article “Confronting Inequality” by Paul Krugman it explains how and why large changes between wages of wealth and the problems between the social classes. America's middle class in today’s society are exceeding their limits in effort to give their children opportunities many middle class parents did not have themselves. Ways that many middle class parents are doing this is by buying homes that they can't afford; this is so their children will be able to attend a good school. Another reason why middle class parent are doing this so that their children can have more opportunities to one day slow the growing gap between the wealthy and the poor. Another reason that inequality between the classes is important Krugman believes is because

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Mantisos in his article, The Class America, talks about how people avoid speaking about social class, describes the economic spectrum, the lifestyles of Americans, and power and oppression. The only class America likes to talk about is the middle class and whether they think it exists or not. People avoid the subject of class because they like to think it does not matter. The trust is it most definitely does and there are so many advantages to being in a higher class than others. The economic spectrum in which we live in is described in depth by Mantisos.

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Income inequality is still a problem in America, but there are ways to fight against it. Job disadvantages and food drives both prove that income inequality still exists in America. According

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Without a doubt the wealth gap between the rich and the poor has continue to widen. In an article called “Fueled by Recession, U.S. Wealth Gap Is Widest in Decades, Study Finds” written by Patricia Cohen, point out the widening wealth gap between the upper-income compared to the middle-income and low-income. Essentially, upper income wealth has increased 101 percent; it was $318,000 in 1983 and increased to $639,400 in 2013. While low income has decreased 18.4 percent; it was $11,400 in 1983 and decreased to 9,300 in 2013. I think that the government should implement policies to reduce the inequality because it’s becoming an issue.

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