Summary Of Up Against Wal-Mart By Karen Olsson

1485 Words6 Pages

“It is a wise man who said that there is no greater inequality than the equal treatment of unequals” (Frankfurter). There is a time in life where a person can work just as hard as you but that person seems to be more successful than you. Having the same equal treatment as someone else will not make you equal to them. In “Up Against Wal-Mart”, Karen Olsson writes an article about employees being mistreated by Wal-Mart. Employees are unable to be successful to achieve the American Dream because of this mistreatment. On the other hand, in “The American Dream: Dead, Alive, or on Hold?”, Brandon King writes an article about how Americans can achieve the American Dream. King believes that if anyone works hard enough they can achieve the American Dream. Olsson’s argument about mistreating employees causes us to notice some weakness in King’s argument about the American Dream. In particular, Olsson analysis of low income, overworking employees, and discrimination reveals shortcoming in King’s essay. Olsson explores the issue of low income, which contributes to her argument that it is putting Americans at a disadvantage. Many Americans who are working at Wal-Mart are not getting paid enough for …show more content…

Discrimination keeps Americans from achieving the American Dream and getting into the higher class lifestyle. King Points out, “As long income and wealth keep concentrating at the top and the great divide between America’s have-mores and have-lesses continue to widen, the Great Recession won’t end, at least not in the real economy” (King 612). The higher class and the middle class will always be separate from each other and people will struggle to get to the high class. The economy is not helping the lower or the middle classes get to the high class because they are different. Most people believe that people in lower and middle class do not work as hard as people in the high class, but that is not