(1) In “America’s Wealth Gap ‘Unsustainable’ According to Harvard Study” (September 8th, 2014), Richard Valdmanis acknowledges THAT the economic gap between the richest and its middle and lower classes is accumulating and numerous people are affected by this dilemma. (2) Valdmanis supports his acknowledgement by referring to the study done by Harvard Business School on surveying the effects of the gap on people, economy, and institutions; moreover on how it affects the hope of thriving citizens and struggling citizens to their extremes. (3) Valdmanis’s motive is to present and describe the dilemmas and effects the economic gap has caused on the society and economy IN ORDER for the readers to recognize the crisis and get an idea of what is
Lastly, Gilbert bring home a hard-hitting reason that this hype is unnecessary: "The U.S. middle class boasts among the highest disposable household incomes in the world. The average U.S. family has 38 percent more disposable household income than a family in Italy, 25 percent more than a family in France, and 20 percent more than a household in Germany, when adjusted for differences in purchasing power... With the average family’s disposable household income in the United States among the highest in the world, inequality is perceived less as a source of social friction between the “haves and the have-nots” than as an imbalance between those who have a lot and others who have even more". I would agree that this has become an issues between who has more than others rather than who has nothing and who has something. I definitely agree and have understood as Gilbert explains, poverty and inequality are two different things.
Does the Greatly Skewed Distribution of Wealth Amongst the Lower and Upper Classes of Society Cause Conflict? American citizens as a whole do not recognize exactly how greatly skewed money is distributed amongst the lower and upper classes, nor the problems and conflicts that come with this great amount of skewness. People argue that this uneven distribution contributes in keeping society functioning because people are unaware of this disproportional spread since there are not any grave conflicts that would cause them to need to become aware. The article, Wealth Inequality in America: It’s Worse Than You Think by Chris Mathews, instead states that the top two percent of the wealthiest people in America contain over half of the total overall
For this week 's current events I an article read on the Huffington post that talks about the vast wealth gap between Black and White America. According to the post the gap got a bit smaller in the years leading upto the Great Recession but in the past 30 years has exploded as the black and Latino communities have been hit by foreclosures and job cuts. There 's a lot of reasons why there are enormous wealth gaps between minorities and whites in America. The most simple answer is, it takes money to make money. Part of the reason that there 's this enormous gap is because whites have long had higher wages and wealth to pass on from generation to generation.
The rich will do what they can to keep the money and continue to become wealthier. In the article, “Most See Inequality Growing, but Partisans Differ over Solutions,” 54% favor taxing the wealthy to expand aid to the poor. The article states that Jan. 15-19 among 1,504 adults, finds that 65% believe the gap between the rich and everyone else has increased in the last 10 years. Even though a majority sees that economic inequality is a problem, people seem to have different viewpoints on how we should fix it (pewresearch.org).
As outlined in chapter 10 of the course text, inequality in housing and wealth is a major problem. The United States is described to be the most unequal countries in the western hemisphere. But with the inequalities when it comes to wealth, the United States is one of the richest countries in the world. Wealth is the sum total of a person’s assets. These assets include, cash in the bank and value of all properties, not only land but houses, cars, stocks, and bonds, and retirements savings.
This social class categorizes the rich, the poor and the “one percent “on a wide spectrum. In the United States, the blacks and whites are at both ends of the distributed wealth throughout the country. Caucasians remain at the “rich, privileged” side of the spectrum while the blacks remain at the “poor, unprivileged” end. In between both groups lies the latinos, which seem to fall closer to African American side of the spectrum. It is believed that this wealth gap had been formed due to the saying “it takes money to make money” (Conley).
Furthermore, the shrinking middle isn’t generating sufficient tax revenues for adequate education, training family services, and safety nets. In additional the very rich Americans are accumulating not only the country’s total income and wealth but also the political power that accompanies money, and at same time using that power to reduce taxes, and receive cooperate subsidies, bailouts and tax cuts. The middle class dealt with wage stagnation for decades. How has the middle class dealt with inequality? Why is it a problem now?
One interesting thing the author notes is the wealth inequality in the United States. Even though “1% of the population own nearly half the wealth in the country the American dream persists” (Golash-Boza, pg. 269). People still believe that if you work hard you will succeed. At first glance, it’s clear that white people have a higher percentage of home ownership than any other race. However in saying that, I would like to know what the population totals were by race for each state as well.
There is a profound gap of wealth between median black and white families, In Race, Wealth, and Intergenerational Poverty, Darrick Hamilton, Professor of Economics and Policy, and William Darity, Professor of Public Policy, discuss the causes of this gap, and measures that can be taken to resolve the disparity. Hamilton and Darity assert the claim that we live today in a post-racial America is false, largely due to the fact that the disproportionate wealth gap between median white and black families exists. They present statistics from a 2002 survey, demonstrating the gap of net worth between white and black families to support this. Hamilton and Darity, using this evidence, dismisses the assertation that race is no longer a determining factor in one’s life chances, which many claim is so gesturing to the election of President Barack Obama, but the evidence of the wealth gap supports the contrary. As to why this gap still exist, Hamilton and Darity dismiss the two most proposed reasons.
Another important aspect in closing the racial wealth gap that exist between African households in comparison to white households is income. According to the article, The Roots of the Widening Racial Wealth Gap: Explaining the Black-White Economic Divide: “national, state, and local levels, including raising the minimum wage, enforcing equal pay provisions, and strengthening employer-based retirement plans and other benefits.”(). Increasing minimum wage allow individuals to increase their disposable income which will also encourage individuals to save more. Also, enforcing employer-based retirement plans and benefits can allow individuals to have an income to sustain themselves when they are exiting the work force. Also, bring back and funding
There is a clear solution to wealth inequality in America, and it is increasing minimum wage so the lower classes can gain wealth .The uneven distribution of wealth and the low wages are the main problems in America and raising wages is the solution. Wealth inequality is the root of all problems in America. When wealth inequality is fixed, America will flourish and will be the most successful country that has ever
The problem with the widened wealth gap is that the inequality may harm the quality. Meaning that those in the higher classes see it as you can use the money with no restrictions. However, economist believe that the “relationship between inequality and economic freedom, with the possibility that policies that are meant to reduce inequality will reduce economic freedom, which will then only make inequality worse.”
Wealth and Inequality in America Inequality The inequality in America has increased over time; the gap between the rich and the poor has become a problem that many Americans don’t see. Inequality is the extent of income which is distributed unequally among the citizenry. The inequality of the United has a large gap between the poor and the rich making it unfair to the population, the rich are becoming wealthier and the poor remain poor. The article “Of the 1%, By the 1%, For the 1%”, authored by Joseph E. Stiglitz describes that there is a 1 percent amount of American’s who are consuming about a quarter of the United States income in a year.
1. Introduction Income inequality has grown significantly during this past decades and this phenomenon continues to increase over the years. This problem is constantly discussed in the daily news all around the world. Several consequences of this increase of inequality between people leads to economic problems such as high unemployment rates, lack of work for young people, fall of demand for certain product. The gap between rich and poor is increasing, the rich are richer and the poor are poorer as a result politicians and economists try to adopt certain policies in order to reduce this gap.
