Wealth Inequality In America

The United States was considered the land of opportunity for many generations, but the situation has now changed. America is no longer the country where all people can pursue their American Dream. The main reason why the lower class cannot achieve their goal of upward mobility is the fact that the top one percent of the population holds most of the wealth of the country. These wealthy Americans also have a better chance of increasing their wealth than the lower classes do. Wealth, or net worth, is not only made up of money; it also includes everything a person owns that is of value, such as their house and property. Currently, the top one percent of the United States population privately holds thirty-eight percent of the nation’s wealth, and

Attending college requires a significant amount of money, so it is easier for wealthy families to send their children to college. Studies show that with a $10,000 increase in home value, enrollment to college rises by 0.7 percent, and this increase in enrollment grows as home value rises. This means that in order for more people to go to college, they must make more money. Attending college often allows people to get better jobs, so they are able to earn more money and stay in the upper class. This again contributes to the perpetual cycle of wealth inequality because these new, upper class college graduates can send their children to college as well. On the opposite side of the wealth spectrum, a report by researchers Fabian Pfeffer and Martin Hallsten states that, “parental wealth is also associated with both a reduced risk of intergenerational downward mobility and increased chances for upward mobility” (huffingtonpost.com). This means that not only are people with wealthy parents able to remain in the upper class, but they also have a higher chance of becoming even richer than their parents. Some may argue that there are many examples of people from the lower class who have been able to rise significantly closer to the upper class. Though this may be true for some people, studies show that forty-two percent of children born and raised in the lowest income class tend to stay there for the duration of their lives. Even if these people from the lower class have some social mobility, most of those who do do not rise significantly higher on the social