...Since the recession that began in 2008, the issue of income inequality has been a central tool of political strategizing. Progressives have used the issue as a sword against conservatives, accusing the latter not only of indifference toward the plight of working Americans but of actually welcoming the widening gulf between rich and poor, as if conservatives want nothing more than to see the wealthy become wealthier, even if it is at the expense of the poor. At the same time, however, conservatives have shied away from the issue, perhaps afraid of how the issue might feed the big-government agenda of liberalism. Even though they have had a sympathetic ear in the White House for fifteen of the past twenty-three years, progressives have used the inequality issue to put conservatives on the defensive, blaming them for the failure of the middle and working classes to match the progress made by the upper income groups. This assault against conservatives has been deceptive and distorted, but at the same time conservatives have often retreated by trying to dismiss the extent of the widening income gap. The inequality issue is not the simple problem the left makes it out to be. The left argues that inequality is the cause of all other economic woes, specifically a diminishing upward mobility. But in reality, it is just the other way around. Inequality is less a cause than a symptom of our economic woes. The widening income disparity is a result of diminishing upward mobility, which...
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...Income inequality is one of the big issues in 21st century. Unequal distribution of income in society is considered to be an obstacle to economic growth. The income allocation of a country’s population can be measured by a Gini coefficient. The value of Gini coefficient can be between 0 and 1 and used to define the income gap between the rich and the poor. The value 0 shows perfect equality and value 1 illustrates perfect inequality. The US can be an example of country with high income inequality. The US Gini coefficient has risen by 20% between 1979 and 2010 (Frizell, 2014). Factors like family structure (i.e. how many earners are there in family), technology (i.e. changes the way that we live), and immigration (i.e. changes the supply of...
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...Gerardo Contreras Gene Lee Econ203 March 1 2013 Income Inequality in America Dissemination of income in America has been a major topic of study by many institutions as well as scholars. Statistics have been gathered from numerous sources, which show that the problem of income inequality has significantly risen since 1970. Income inequality was stabilized for many years. Although income inequality has increased amongst the elite countries in the world, America suffers from this problem the most. Research shows that cause of the wide gap in income inequality has not been decided by gender, which by the way has decreased in America in last twenty years. The Income inequality gap has also not been because of race, or the gap been amongst middle class and lower class, however it has increased. The main reason exists and lies amongst the middle class and highest wage earners, with the disparity being extra dangerous as an individual’s income increases. It is stated that upward redistribution can be held accountable for forty percent of the forecasted Social Security deficit in the following century. Research states that in 2011 it was established that the highest earning one percent of families multiplied about 275 percent after federal taxes and income transfers over a period of 28, compared to a gain of just fewer than 40 percent of the 60 percent in the middle of America's income distribution. Additional researchers found that the trend has continually been ongoing since...
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...success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative, with the country's current levels of income inequality and lessening economic mobility? The concern over a widening gap between economic classes in our country has come to the forefront of the political stage. Many say, that the possibility of achieving the American dream many once sought after seems to be slipping from our grasp. As inequality grows amongst our society, economic mobility shrinks. President Obama recently commented on wealth inequality by saying that it, “jeopardized middle-class America’s basic bargain, that if you work hard, you have a chance to get ahead.” If wealth inequality continues to grow as it has over recent decades, it will ensure not only that most Americans born in the lower class will remain in the lower class but also that the American dream is out of reach for the majority of us. I think the American dream is basically out of reach with the majority of tax breaks benefiting the super wealthy and basically dispelling the advancement of the middle class American. 2.) Offer your opinion of one of President Obama's Middle Class Economics policies and whether or not it would be effective in lessening income inequality or increasing economic mobility. The White House is proposing to use changes in the U.S. tax code to slow or reverse the wealth inequality trend. A key strategy is to address an inheritance tax loophole that truly benefits the wealthiest Americans the...
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...the upper class compared to middle and lower class. Once upon a time, it was difficult to make a clear distinction between these different classes of people in the society. The article, “Income Inequality: Too big to Ignore” by Robert H. Frank write about how the country continuously uneven income levels have affected Americans. According to Frank “three decades after world war 2, income in the United State rose rapidly at about the same rate for people at all income levels” (1). The point Frank was trying to get at is that, the gap between the higher and lower classes were more even before compare to now. “Income growth is concentrated at the top with about 8.9% in 1976 to 23.5% by 2007 during same period” (Frank 1). The essence of Frank’s argument is that the revenue is going to those who already have more. This is true, because it increase inequality....
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...Income Inequality in America is a problem that’s been going on for decades, and many feel that it hardly exists, the many people that feel that way are highly uneducated, and seem to not really care about this tremendous problem that in one’s eyes really has no end in the near future, in fact it has been gradually rising and one feels that it’s just not fair. Unfortunately, there’s not much that can be done, only of course if the poor class of people decide to actually educate themselves and get a higher education. One says poor class, simply because that’s how they’re classified. There are five types of levels that Americans are classified as, and they are: 1. Upper Class, 2. Upper Middle Class, 3. Middle Class, 4. Working Class, 5. Poor. The highest percentage of Americans fall in the Poor department, and it has been that way for decades, and will continue to be that way for decades to come. It’s as if it has been programmed to be that way. The explanation of the Distribution of Wealth, Distribution of Income, Poverty and other topics that have to do with this saddening subject will be argued and clearly clarified for the reader. Income- money, or other benefit, periodically received; the amount so received. Inequality- differences between groups in wealth, status, or power. “Why are some men rich and others poor? The question has baffled philosophers for centuries, and modern economics has not taken us very far towards an answer either “(Jencks, Christopher). Still, we have...
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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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...emerging markets. It is now the 6th largest economy in the world after United States, China, Japan, Germany and France. This fast development is also accompanied by socio-economic changes, and more particularly to an evolution of social classes. Does Brazil really become a sustainable middle-class country? In order to answer to this problematic question, we are going to explain why the Brazilian middle-class can be qualified with the adjective « new », why it differs from middle-class existing in others developed countries and why there are some risks class C setbacks. Then, we are going to demonstrate, according to the definition of « middle-class », that Brazil owns every characteristics which allow to qualify her as a sustainable middle-class country. One of the most impressive results of Brazil's economic rise has been the explosion of the middle class, and the expansion of what is called the C Class. Beyond the stock market, the oil fields, and the upcoming international events, the new middle class is what really has helped fuel growth and has attracted so much investment and international business. In Brazil, socioeconomic levels are divided by letters: A and B (upper income),...
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...the hard working people to find a successful life. However, since the early 1980’s income inequality has been increasing rapidly as proved by the forever widening gap between the country productivity and hourly earnings of a typical American worker. In fact, according to the Congressional Budget Office income distribution report, from 1979 to 2007 the average real after-tax household income growth for the top 1 percent was 275% while the middle class income growth stagnated under 40%, and this situation is only going to get worst according to empirical evidence. In other words, America is now a country regardless of how hard you are working, most of the gain form the productivity that the laborers contributed is only going...
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...The growing problem of income inequality in New Zealand and around the world will have significant effects on the consumption or work, goods and services by myself and my family and society as a whole. This essay will discuss these effects on consumption should this inequality continue on its current path. I will begin by discussing income inequality and the evidence of it today and the issues that this inequality creates in society. The essay will then give an overview of my current position in society and the market and I will then discuss some issues and future implications of income inequality and how they will shape the consumption of work, goods and services by my family and myself. This section will also consider how the psychological aspects of consumption could be affected by income inequality and deal with the social ramifications of this inequality and look at any possible changes to our consumption from a cultural sense. This essay will argue that income inequality can have significant potential to change the future consumption of work, goods and services by myself and my family. The concept of income inequality is not new it has been discussed by politicians and economists for a number of years if not centuries, as the old adage says ‘the rich get richer the poor get poorer’. The ministry of social development defines it as, “The extent of disparity between high income and low income households” (Ministry of Social Development, 2010) and it essentially deals with...
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...providing a way ahead for addressing the main issue, income inequality. In the view of the author of this paper, Freeland tries to incite pity of the plutocrats. Regardless, she does provide an extremely important lesson for everyone, which is the significance of education. Therefore, this paper focuses on the book’s relevance, how income inequality could impact the economic futures of the next generation, and areas on the book that the author of this paper disagrees and agrees with. Relevance The book can be seen as a doom and gloom examination of income inequality to those who are not part of the 1 percent, much less the .1 percent. On the hand, rather than focus on the income inequality between the plutocrats and everyone else, the book can be used as a wakeup call to the average person to take their personal finances seriously. While the middle-class in America is shrinking, the middle-class family income is still defined as “$42,000 to $126,000 annually in 2014 dollars for a household of three.” Additionally, according to a 2015 study, roughly 46 percent of...
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...theories on social inequalities. Marxism is a political, social, and economic philosophy derived from the work of the 19th-century historians Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It views human history as a struggle between social classes and asserts that capitalism is inherently exploitative. According to Marxism, social inequality is an unfair situation, in which some individuals or groups have more money, influence and power etc over others, usually referring to the bourgeoisie, who use this advantage to oppress the proletariats. Marxists would argue that social inequality is caused by false class consciousness, and that eventually would lead to a revaluation. Marxism is a conflict theory, focusing on inequalities and divisions within society. According to Karl Marx, all stratified societies have two major classes, the bourgeoisie (rich) and the proletariats (poor). The rich owns the means of production, such as land capital, machinery etc, while the poor does not, this gives the ruling class the power to exploit the lower class, through the use of the superstructure, e.g. the legal and political system to justify their actions and maintain social order, due to the fact that the ruling class have more influence compared to the working class. According to Karl Marx, the rich exploits the working class who have to sell their labour to survive, thus creating huge inequalities, furthermore, due to the fact that many working class people rely on this as a means of income, this gives...
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...Income inequality not only affects education availability, but it can also affect job opportunities. For example, in the article The Tipping Point: Most Americans No Longer Are Middle-Class the author states that, “Thanks to factory closings and other economic factors, the country now has 120.8 million adults living in middle-income households.” So this unequal distribution of wealth is causing certain companies and factories to close due to the fact that they cannot afford to pay their employees, they have a new innovation of technology and can’t hire as many people, or other implications. However, the point is that these jobs shutting or closing down are affecting the amount of poverty or in this case “middle-class” distributed through the population of America. These people have struggles finding jobs in the first place, but it could...
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...Final Paper Wealth Inequality in U.S. and Economic Efficiency Over the last decade, income inequality has become one of the most important issues in the U.S. and a subject of a lot of debate. There is a prevalent idea in the society that the wealth inequality in United States is currently at the highest level in the history after steadily raising for a number of decades. The financial crisis is said to have contributed to this significant gap between the top 1% and everybody else. People view it as an inherently negative thing, and fight hard to promote the equality and income redistribution. This paper examines the causes of inequality; the relationship between wealth inequality and economic growth and the hypothesis on how policy measures can be designed to mitigage the income disparity both in U.S. and in the rest of the world. The researh is based on the theory that inequality is an essential aspect of an efficient free market economy that adversely affects economic growth when in excess. When it comes to global wealth inequality, people often tend to accuse capitalism. In fact, the real laissez-faire capitalism doesn't exist anywhere on our planet. According to its definition, laissez faire is "an economic system in which transactions between private parties are free from intrusive government restrictions, tariffs, and subsidies, with only enough regulations to protect property rights." It has been previously proven free markets lead to the most efficient use of economic...
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...In-INEQUALITY FOR ALL- The movie is very well directed showing the main problem in the economy and these are the words and statements I learnt from this documentary. Inequality for all is not only making inequality but also its not equal as in this developed country like the united states of America inequality is mainly in income and wealth so because of that the poverty is increasing rapidly. If the system works as it does there might be no poverty. Like some inequality would be productive like capitalism that generates lot of good things, essence etc. When does inequality become a problem and how much we can tolerate? And an economy that will be working for. Surge to greater inequality. Economy was so dropped in 2008 there were no jobs and there were strikes for jobs and people lost their homes and many things happened with the 2008 fall out. The weighty turned to the financial sector because it was in demand and it was very booming that the richest are more towards financial sectors so to make stocks like example like Wall Street. The economy can be stable with the strong middle class because they are the one who work daily and do hard work but they never get to the 1% of them richest American’s. The rich don’t spend much but they spend less and they save money they are not generating enough jobs in other ways they just want to save more and more as it is said in the documentary rich are not wasting the money they are saving it to make more revenue. If the equality in economy...
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