Income Inequality In America Research Paper

In the year 2000, 133,000 people died due to poverty in the United States. Today, almost as many people die from poverty as from lung cancer (Sanders). According to recent data, individuals in the lowest-income groups and individuals in the least-educated groups, typically experience the worst health. A 2011 report prepared for Sen. Bernie Sanders reported that individuals in the highest income group are expected to live, on average, six and a half years longer than those in the lowest income group (Sanders). Americans in poverty are more likely to struggle with a wide array of health problems than other Americans. In this paper I will discuss how poverty in the United States has taken a toll on health and how income inequality in this country
Johnson’s State of the Union Address on January 8, 1964. On this day, President Johnson declared an “unconstitutional war” against poverty in America. At this time, more than 32 million Americans were in poverty and the poverty rate was 19%. In the years following President Johnson’s address, initiatives were taken in order to fight against human suffrage (poverty and its effects) in the United States and to reduce income inequality . Yet today, poverty and income inequality continue to be one of the greatest issues facing our country. More than 46 million Americans (more than 14 percent of the population) are living below the poverty line, the largest number on record, according to the report released by the Census Bureau (Census). Income inequality is ever-growing, and the practices and policies implemented as a result of poverty do not protect the wellbeing of poor Americans. In fact, we have reached a point in history where “children born in certain parts of the United States of America can expect to live shorter lives than their parent’s
In the essay, “From America’s New Working Class,” political scientist and writer, Kathleen R. Arnold asserts that programs like welfare, that are designed to help fight poverty and income inequality, not only exploit low income Americans, but actually isolate them into areas where they are more prominent to illness and disease. Stating, “Recipients are not meant to rise even to lower-middle class,” Arnold insures that these federally funded programs threaten the existence of low income Americans (Arnold 234-43). Ultimately the policies implemented by the government in a response to poverty do not protect the well-being of poor Americans. In the essay “From The Great Divergence: America’s Growing Inequality Crisis and What We Can Do About It,” Timothy Noah argues that Wall Street has taken over the economy and that they have taken measures that profit them while at the same time hurting low income Americans. Noah exposes that a big reason why low income Americans are more prominent to illness is not because they do not take care of themselves, but rather because big corporations are responsible for polluting the environment these individuals live