Robert H. Frank explains that the income inequality is hurting our economy and over all well-being. During World War 2, the income rate rose tremendously at the same rate. America during this time had a great economy with a bold middle class striving to receive the American dream (Frank, 581). Plenty of new building and complex infrastructures were built and people were sanguine; the American dream was passionately alive. Life for many Americas was great, the country as a whole was striving with new complex infrastructures which a small gap between the rich and poor. Unfortunately, during the last three decades the economy had fallen and therefore, increased the income inequality. There has been no evidence proving that greater income inequality helps strengthen our economy. Recent studies have found that countries where income inequality grow fastest has shown the largest financial distress. These financial distresses include heightened divorce rates, increased bankruptcy filings and long commute times. In my opinion, everyone should agree that the elevated income equality is a negative and do something to prevent it. This is only one of the many obstacles that make the goal of the American dream…
In “Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore”, Frank shows the influences in Americans’ lives in different classes by the disparity between the rich and the poor. He arouses people’s consciousness for the “rising inequality” which is being polarized and has been causing immense damages to Americans, no matter which class they are. It is true that the “Income Inequality” in America is very obvious and affecting more and more people. Indeed, “we should just agree that it’s a bad thing”, however, are we able to do something concrete to deal with it effectively? Is the” rising inequality really required in the name of fairness”? I stand neutral towards Frank’s opinion.…
As a result of this issue, numerous policy debates are ongoing with the aim of ensuring that the rising levels of inequality are contained. According to Weinberg & Steelman (2005), from the 1960s, the issue of rising economic inequality has been a major issue not just in the US but globally. The two cite wage inequality as one of the factors that has led to the current income inequality issue. They are of the view that from the 1970s, the issue of wage inequality has been addressed sufficiently and as a result, this has led to the current predicament that the country is in. While there have been arguments that the current income inequality is as a result of globalization because it has facilitated increased cases of global immigration and trade,…
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.…
This article by Julia Limitone describes the state of our current economy and what some economic advisors are expecting for the future. While a few have a negative outlook, some believe the United States economy is doing incredibly well under the circumstances.…
United States citizen's liberties, quality of life is perhaps our most profound pursuant to happiness but when we experience our most highly held institution self-destruct through disregard for one another...For the People...become mute. Therefore, the people act out as their Congress does...with disregard toward one another. Lead...and...I shall follow. After-all, I voted for you.…
Economic inequality in the United States has increased tremendously throughout the past decades and has consequently led to many social conditions that negatively impact the lower and middle class. The unequal distribution of income and wealth is primarily due to the capitalist government economy that deregulates markets as well as globalization and technological advances. Political inequality is similarly another consequence that results from the economic disparity that further affects democracy and political representation of many Americans. This likewise leads to the creation of social movements, in which many unprivileged Americans seek government attention to overcome the inequality that exists amongst the socioeconomic classes.…
Branko Milanovic, a World Bank economist, has said “Widespread education has become the secret to growth. And broadly accessible education is difficult to achieve unless a society has a relatively even income distribution.” According to a December 2010 paper by economists Michael Kumhof and Romain Rancière of the IMF. In the 1920’s when there was a boom in the economy, low wage workers were encouraged to use credit to make up for wages that didn’t keep up with inflations, which than caused large defaults when the economy crashed. And the same thing happened in the 2008 recession. But others say that inequality is a sign of growth, and good for the economy because it causes the hardest working to make it to the top. And they spend more, thus pumping more into the…
Income inequality means that there is no equality between people. Also, there are big differences between the rich and everyone else. This problem grows year after year. Some people become poor and other become rich. The American Dream is related to income because everyone who wants to achieve the American Dream must have a great income. Rich and poor people are all human beings, but poor people have stolen money from each other because they do not have a great experience to get money. Rich people have great experience in business because they received from his or her family, also they study in great school and university. In addition, education is one of the greatest things to have the huge income. People who study in higher education will…
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.…
President Obama called widening income inequality the “defining challenge of our time”. The political firestorm created from perceived economic inequality is an increasingly vexing problem in the United States. The belief, that the richest citizens use their power and privilege by abusing the most vulnerable with impunity, as think tank philosophers feed mob rule passions for equality through “divide and conquer” Machiavellianism. Consequently, allowing the government and wealthy individuals to subvert the republican government by maneuvering regulations narrowly towards oligarchic or autocratic directions. Ultimately, delivering economic wealth to corporate or even foreign powers. What is the basic, the essential, the crucial principle that differentiates freedom from slavery? Derek Thompson’s Barack Obama, Inequality Fighter feeds the Baconian type notion that income inequality is purely factual while dismissing the economic freedom principle of voluntary action over regulatory coercion.…
Income inequality has been, and continues to be, an issue among the different genders and ethnicities in the United States. The gap continues to widen not only between men and women, but also among other women when age, ethnicity, appearance, and physical limitation biases are taken into account.…
Barach, David. The Wanton Wages if Income Inequality. January 13th, 2012. The Chronicle of Higher Education. <http://chronicle.com/blogs/brainstorm/the-wages-of-inequality/43020>.…
America is supposed to be all about equality, but if you take a serious look around, you will see that there is human rights issue going on all over America; this is just one of them. Things need to be reevaluated and adjusted as things change and growth happens, America do not seem to roll with the changes very well and are stuck in a moralistic, religious, patriarchal system. In recent years, the major concerns of economic development is the study of poverty, the income distribution and growth in the less developed countries or from all over the world have been doing researches and studies on how to induce a growth in those under developed countries.…
Income distribution or redistribution as some call it takes place when money is taken away from someone and given to someone else. Most of the time it is taken away from someone who has earned it and given to someone who has not. Why does this happen and when did it begin? What are the benefits and what are the unintended consequences? I will try to answer these questions and give another option in the next few paragraphs.…
