...Inequality in the United States In today’s American home life, the pressure of living the American dream has strained society. According to the article The Dangerous Consequences of Growing Inequality, the authors state that “a powerful consequence of growing inequality is an erosion in the amount of free time that families have.” (Collins and Yeskel 155) Though advancements have been made in the work environment, many are working harder to earn the same wages to try to keep up with the changing economy. While unemployment and debt are increasing, there has been a decline in health insurance, retirement security, and ability to earn a proper education. The United States’ gap of inequality is continuously increasing with the changing economy. Presently, many Americans are faces stresses that they did not in the past. The cost of living has risen, yet many cannot afford to maintain a comfortable lifestyle with the wages that they are receiving. The article Dangerous Consequences of Growing Inequality states, “Families continue to make up for falling wages in order to maintain a certain standard of living is by going deeper into debt.” (156) Because debt continues to grow, people are not able to save for their families. The use of credit cards has fueled this problem because people are allowed to borrow money constantly, but do not have the means to pay it back. The income of the average family should increase as the standard of living increases in order to lessen inequality...
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...Introduction Income inequality means that the income is distributed in an uneven manner among a population. It generally refers to a society which the income gap between individuals or groups and also the international wealth gap. The percentage of income to a population is often presented by income inequality. It’s also considered as the gap between the rich and others and has been obviously growing for recently years. There have measures for income inequality. It’s important to view this data sets and measures as it can show the differences of a country, especially the advantages and disadvantages. Income inequality should have a clearer data or picture to explain the differences and can be also obtained by using those measures. The “Gini Coefficient” can measure income inequality. Gini Coefficient is the way to measure the distribution of nation residents’ income. Corrado Gini (Italian statistician and sociologist) is the person who developed and published it. The among values of distribution will be measured by Gini coefficient such as income levels. If everyone has the same income, it will be shown as Zero (perfect equality) in the Gini coefficient. Conversely, if Gini coefficient shows one mean that only got one person have the income, as know as perfect inequality. In the United States, there has been growing obviously for income inequality and the gap between rich and others. According to the report of Gini coefficient, united States have the high income inequality and continuously...
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...The Dangerous Consequences of Growing Inequality In today’s society the pressure of living an American dream has strained society. According to the article, The Dangerous Consequence of Growing Inequality, the author states one powerful consequence of growing inequality is erosion in the amount of free time families have. Families now have to work longer hours to make up for falling wages. Falling wages in the 1970s and 1980s were masked by the entry of a second wage earner in many households into the workforce. At the same time, temporarily and part time workers generally do not have paid vacations, and their numbers in the workforce are growing. Though advancements have been made in the work environment, many are working harder to earn the same wages to try to keep up with the changing economy. While unemployment and debt are increasing, there has been a decline with health insurance, diminishing retirement security, and the ability to earn a proper education. The U.S gap of inequality is continuously increasing with the changing economy. The article also states that, “Families continue to make up for falling wages in order to maintain a certain standard of living is by going deeper into debt.” Approximately sixty percent of all American households carry credit card balances, because they are unable to pay their full month bill. The article says that in 2004 the credit card industry claimed that the average household consumer debt was about 9,000. Yet, when the roughly...
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...Presidential candidate must have intentions of narrowing the wage gap between corporate CEO’s and their employees in order for my vote to be casted for him or her. Inequality between citizens is a growing problem that needs to be addressed in our nation. According to Robert Reich, former United States Secretary of Labor under the Clinton administration, the financial top 1% in the United States takes in an increasingly larger annual income in comparison to the other 99% of Americans, whose wages remain relatively stagnant. Financial inequality comes with an inherent danger of bleeding through into social inequality in the form of severely contrasting classes. Healthy U.S. economy comes from a strong middle class. Consumer demand is crucial to the economic well-being of our country, however the bulk of consumers are not earning much and therefore not spending much. This lack of consumption leads to a slow in hiring and expansion. Reagan’s failed plan of trickle-down economics was a stark contrast to this reality. Not only that, but middle class is often forced to take loans in order to buy necessities and maintain a standard of living; and the debt grows in middle class while the top 1% is able to hold onto their money. Due to...
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...government increase spending on purchases it will create more job opportunities. This will increase consumer spending which will encourage private investment spending to meet the demand. In turns that will create more jobs in the economy. The negatives of increasing government spending are as follows. It is very important to remember that government spending to stimulate the economy is not free. The funds are not going to come from thin air. The government has two options to generate the money without increasing taxes, borrowing the money domestically, or from foreign governments. Both cases increase the national debt, or cut some government programs to stimulate others. Borrowing the money domestically, from local investors, will stop these investors from creating new businesses. This will lead to less job creation in the economy. When the national debt increases the future tax rate will increase which will slow the economy in the future. That will lead us to conclude that stimulating the economy by borrowing is a short term solution. While cutting other government programs can be described as taking water from one end of the swimming pool and adding it to the other end. This will not increase the...
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...Between the Rich and the Rest of Us” written by Holly Sklar, she agreed that there is a gap between the rich and the poor, and it is rising now. Her argument is strong towards the fact that poverty in America is on the rise. In addition, she mentions that while the poverty is growing, the wealthy people are also on the rise. Sklar is surely right about the gap between the rich and the poor. It is a significant issue for us to know about such inequality. During hard times, the rich still can have their benefit. However, the people who really need money cannot get any help from the rich. While economic inequality has existed over time and occurs in more nations than simply the United States. Some balanced and fair intermediary institution is required to solve the growing problem of debt and poverty in the nation. There is much evidence that proves the growing gap between the rich and poor. According to Angel Gurria, who is the organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Secretary, “The United States has the highest inequality and poverty in the OECD after Mexico and Turkey, and the gap has increased rapidly since 2000” (Vandore). This data tells us people have unequal incomes, and it makes the gap become wider. The study conducted by Dan Ariely of Duke...
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...Inequality caused by student debts: The crushing American Dream Xin (Taylor) Kang Johns Hopkins Carey Business School Author Note Xin (Taylor) Kang, Gold Group, MS in Finance program. This paper was prepared for Business and Academic Research and Writing course of Summer Intensive Program, taught by Professor Kevin Lanagan. Inequality caused by student debts: The crushing American Dream Proud of their nation, Americans always consider the United States a land of opportunity, where the American dream that everyone can achieve prosperity and success through hard work in a society with few barriers is world-famous. Though higher education is a sign of success in the U.S., the American dream is crushing. Student debts are getting more burdensome because the university tuition is expensive and bankers always lend high interest loans to students. During the last seven years, student debts for graduation have increased about 40 percent. Over 15 percent of the students cannot repay their debts, which may eventually cause a worse consequence. Definitely, it will lead to inequality among those who can afford to attend universities and those who cannot. In recent years, student debts have become serious problems. Stiglize (2012) pointed out that “in 2012, according to the Federal Reserve and the Department of Education, nearly 13 percent of student-loan borrowers owe over $50,000, and about 4 percent owe more than $100,000” (“Student Debt,” para. 6). ...
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...Power, he examines wealth distribution in the United States, specifically financial inequality. He concludes that the wealthiest 10% of the United States effectively owns America, and that this is due in large part to an increase in unequal distribution of wealth between 1983 and 2004. Domhoff also states that the unequal wealth distribution is due in large part to tax cuts for the wealthy and the defeat of labor unions. Most of Domhoff’s information is accurate and includes strong, valid arguments and statements. However, there is room for improvement when identifying the subject of what is causing the inequality. The most important points made in Domhoff’s article are his statistics, the reason behind the unequal wealth distribution, and his closing statement concerning the top 10%. In his article, Domhoff cites many statistics regarding the distribution of wealth between America’s top and bottom percentiles. There is quite a bit of research to back up his claims, and his data is generally very accurate. However, when it comes to the cause of such gaps in wealth distribution, there is more to consider than simply tax cuts and labor unions. Domhoff begins with a broad overview of wealth distribution in the United States. He states that the top 1% held 34.6% of all privately held wealth, with 85% in the hands of the top 20%, leaving the bottom 80% in control of only 15% of privately held wealth. In terms of financial wealth, he states that the top 1% was in control of 42.7%. After...
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...Anthony Giovenco Political Science Inequality Paper 12-18-14 The Effects of Wealth Inequality in the United States Wealth inequality in the United States has grown tremendously since 1970. The United States continuously reveals higher rates of inequality as a result of perpetual support for free market capitalism. The high rates of wealth inequality cause the growing financial crisis to persist, lower socio-economic mobility, increase national poverty, and have adverse effects on health and well being. There is no doubt that wealth inequality in America has been escalating quickly; the portion of total income earned by the top one percent has doubled since the beginning of the 1970’s. The wealthy are the main beneficiaries regarding income inequality. In the latest consensus of wealth distribution, the top one percent of Americans owned thirty five percent of the nations private wealth, and the top ten percent took home about fifty percent of all income in 2012. This figure is greater than the bottom 90 percent combined. The question commonly asked concerning this matter: How and why is this becoming so quickly unequal is to be examined. First, we must explain what is meant by the term “wealth.” Wealth is the collection of the assets people own. This includes homes, stocks, savings for pension, and bank accounts, minus all existing debts. The main issue regarding wealth inequality is income inequality. Income equality has grown increasingly in the past 30 years....
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...scholars and development agencies such as the World Bank. The meeting of basic needs (or, equivalently, reduction in absolute poverty), the creation of modern employment opportunities, and the achievement of a less unequal distribution of income and farmland have all become important criteria in determining the level of development. Traditional measures of growth, especially in developing countries, may be misleading in that they fail to account for the environmental destruction that often accompanies spurts in temporary and unsustainable economic growth; and economists are devising measures of the national capital stock that includes environmental wealth. The United Nations has placed both educational attainment and health standards on equal footings with per capita income as development criteria, in the widely followed United Nations Development Program human development index (HDI). Some leading development scholars, such as Amartya Sen, Denis Goulet, and Dudley Seers, have gone further. They argue that more intangible goals, such as expanded ability to choose (including political as well as market freedoms), enhanced self-esteem, and self-actualization must be considered development criteria in their own right, if not its only meaningful measures. (For an introduction to Amartya Sen’s influential “capabilities” approach to measuring development goals, see Chapter 1 of Todaro and Smith). Thus,...
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...Income Inequality President Obama called economic inequality “the defining challenge of our time.” Many would say that income inequality is one of the biggest issues and injustices facing The United States of America today. Income Inequality is a very serious issue with a complex history and a variety of proposed solutions. Income inequality is an issue in almost every way you look at it. The effect of so few people having purchasing power in The United States of America has had and will continue to have a negative effect on the economy. Money needs to keep circulating around in the economy to maintain a healthy economy. The Guardian explained in an article in February 2013, “Money is like blood – it needs to circulate for local economies...
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...Higher taxes would be put in to place to pay for everything that would be considered “free”. Healthcare is a principle that would be provided for all, but how would the United States fund the healthcare? Raising taxes for everyone funds this program along with many others. In a socialist economy there would be more bureaucracy. This often means that more political committees and groups will decide how things will be run. Without profits being made, the incentive to make processes and services quick can disappear. This can lead to poorer goods and services for public consumers. Since everyone is “equal” in terms of the government there is a lack of innovation. There is less or no financial incentive for people to develop new products and services or for businessmen and entrepreneurs to set up new companies. The low motivation interferes with employees to better themselves by working towards a better paid job. Irresponsible public spending can eventually lead to runaway inflation. America is built on the foundation of a capitalist economy. As a nation, we are too advanced and diverse to conform to a socialist economic...
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...Extra Credit PAYAM FAKERI I will like to prove my idea and agree with Piketty’s idea that the riches get richer and poor get poorer, particularly in a bad recession. My focus of my statement will be based on United States market; As we all know US economy is based of capitalism system; That means there are lots of money available thought wealthy major capital holders that they are not even more than 10% of the population of the US. Picketty's premise is that capitalism has a natural drift toward income inequality because assets like stock and real estate tend to grow in value faster than the economy as a whole. Piketty’s inequality theory is based on a formula he calls “R > G,” meaning that the return on capital wealth exceeds the rate of economic growth. In support to my idea R>G; I would like to discuss this idea which I do agree with him in a real recent world economic crises that effect most middle class people in united states. We know that any small changes in economy or even in individual people’s life can jeopardize their routine’s life in order to handles their cost of living, mortgage, bills or any relevant fix or variable costs. By saying that; most Americans living with debt (high ration debt Approximant 26% of the population) and they live paycheck by paycheck on their routines life. In the event I help, they go and find a rich (Investors – Bank or other intuition) to borrow money at any APR. The following examples will support my agreement: Real Estate...
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...Politician loved talk about this issue but do nothing about it. I think the wealth inequality debate ought to spotlight on, what public rules are assisting the growth of wealth by more. I am not sure if this can be solution or can be repair or even anyone care. The “Wealth Inequally in America,” stated that we should do something. Think about it, what we are doing about this issue. According to an article on Wikipedia, “the wealthy possess greater financial opportunities that allow their money to make more money. Also “affluent people are more likely to allocate their money to financial assets such as stocks, bonds and other investments.” The bottom line 90% of people are holding 73% of debt. In other word, people don’t have any idea about the actual number of wealth inequality in United States. Should we all be worry about this, what do you...
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...a country with more economic freedom and less government intervention is more prosperous than one that is highly regulated by the government. Advocates of an expanded government argue that free markets cause income inequality, crises, and monopolies. They believe that more government control of the economy avoids these problems. Since President Obama has been at the helm of the United States, our economic freedom has declined. Eight of the past nine years the U.S has lost economic freedoms and went from being the 6th freest economy in the world to 11th. In 2013, Obama said, “We need to set aside the belief that government cannot do anything about reducing inequality." Technically, he might be right but the way for the government to help reduce income equality is to get out of the way of the American citizens. A 2014 study in an issue of Contemporary Economic Policy done by economist Oguzhan Dincer, found that reducing economic freedom tends to increase income inequality, which then leads to more economic intervention. It’s a dangerous circle. Dincer goes on to compare the top 8 states with the highest economic freedom to the 8 states that have the lowest economic freedom. The results were that the states with less freedom had more income inequality. This is only one of thousands of...
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