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Summary Of 35 Soul-Crushing Facts About Economic Inequality

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Economic inequality is the uneven distribution of wealth and differences in economic security found in each individual in a specific country or region. Today, the topic is being discussed profusely by the American presidential candidates and by many writers around the world because of the beliefs of whether there should or should not be wealth redistribution policies put into action. Larry Schwartz, the author of “35 Soul-Crushing Facts about American Income Inequality”, makes a valid claim that economic inequality is the foundation of the problems that the entire American population face such as poverty and a hindrance of economic growth. To begin with, Schwartz has an exceptional argument that the high rate of economic inequality, like is …show more content…

Schwartz supports his claim about the correlation between poverty and economic inequality by stating, “All of which has led to today, an era of national and international inequality unparalleled since the days of the Roaring ’20s” (Schwartz). The author, in the previous sentence, is comparing the degree of economic inequality that is seen today to the equally as corrupt and unforgiving period called the Roaring Twenties. The Roaring Twenties was known for the economic advancement of America post World War One. It is often believed to be a prosperous period of time for everyone in America, however, that is almost completely incorrect because over half of all Americans lived below the poverty line. Today’s economic inequalities are very similar in nature to that of the Roaring Twenties. For example, because of today’s workers’ salaries not being increased to compensate for the inflation rate, many of workers are struggling to provide for themselves and their families as evidence by Schwartz’s statistic included in his article, “Over 20 percent of all American children live below the poverty line” (Schwartz). The reason that over 20 percent of American children are in poverty currently is because the workers that are not being financially compensated correctly statistically have more children than the higher class, who rule the wealth in America. All in all, Schwartz’s argument that the economic inequality today in America causes a significant increase in poverty is very accurate based on the statistical evidence given in his article and the truthful analogy that he uses to describe

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