Income Inequality In America
INCOME INEQUALITY IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Still to date, the problem of income inequality is an issue of a great importance for million of African-Americans and others who struggle to improve their quality of life. It must be known by now, that economic injustice has had a devastating impact on black communities all across America. Issues such as inequality and racial discrimination in education, the social environment, and economics have gone on for too long, and it has been engraved in the American society as a way of life, a norm, and permanently engraved in our mind, which implies that hope for a better change in the way of our lives ,was and still is given up. Income inequality has many implications on all of us: poverty, …show more content…
homicide and violence rate, drug use, education opportunities, to obesity. Reflecting on the effects of income inequality, it is critical to know the magnitude of this issue. When I started reading about this topic, I realized how little I knew about the history of American income inequality. I knew that significant inequalities exist today but I didn’t have a solid idea about how society became the way it is today, yet there was a very interesting story behind it. Chronologically, this issue arose in 1915, when a statistician named Willford King published The wealth and Income of the People of the Unites States, where he believed “that the richest one percent of Americans is in control of about 15 percent of the nation’s income. After dropping a bit in the late 1920's, income inequality reached it peak in 1929, just before the stock market crashed. This was a horrible time to be a poor person and a great time to be a rich person.”(King) From the 1940's to the 1960's, America had gotten back on rails and overcame the great depression. Afterwards, the economy of the country was going through a period of stabilization, leaving the gap between the rich and poor class tightened up, leading to more of an economic equality, which made America at that time a beautiful place to live in. However, starting in the 1970's, income inequality started rising back up. Following those events the great Divergence raged on; except for a brief period of the late 1990's, income inequality grew heavily. Despite periods of significant economic growth from the 1980's to the 2000's, more than 80 percent of the income growth was absorbed by the richest one percent of Americans, who today account for more than 30 percent of the nation's income. Meanwhile, the richest 0.1 percent of Americans, the really rich ones, have an income quadruple that of the 1 percent.(Barach) Actually, the story is very sad, as it has decided the fate of millions of Americans. An accurate definition of this social issue is important to help us acquire a deeper understanding of the implication of this problem. According to Dr. Benjamin Chavis Jr, who is an African American civil rights leader. He was an assistant to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who inspired him to work in the civil rights movement. Dr. Chavis rose to international prominence as the leader of the Wilmington Ten. A former Vice President of the National Council of Churches, Dr. Chavis became the Executive Director of the NAACP:
...It is the measurement of the distribution of income that highlights the gap between individuals or households making the most of income in a given country and those making the least for a period of time . . . when you add race as a distinguish characteristic, the widening gap of income inequality between blacks and whites in the US exposes the lingering impact of years of targeted discrimination and economic injustice imposed in the vast majority of black Americans. Income inequality is the extent of disparity between high income and low income households. (Chavis) Within the same Article, Dr. Chavis introduces a study called “The Gini Coefficient,” which represents a measurement of income inequality, and which theoretically calculates the extent to which the distribution of income among people in a country deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. Having known that this country is very rich, we surprisingly scored the highest ranking of income inequality by a score “46,”(Gini Coefficient) trumping all leading industrialized countries in the world. According to Dr. Brian Slack, “The Gini Coefficient;” named after an Italian statistician, Gorrado Gini, created the most commonly known measure of inequality. A Gini coefficient of zero represents perfect equality (which means everyone in a specific society has the same amount if income); a Gini coefficient of 100 represents perfect inequality. In the United States, 1 percent of the people overwhelmingly and increasingly control the wealth of the nation at the economic struggle of 99 percent of the people. If we take a look at this matter from a global point of view, the credit Suisse Research Institute just released a report that shows that the richest 0.5 percent of global giants hold well over a third of the entire wealth of the world. (Slack) Going back to the local situation, which we are all part of, our society suffers the consequences of this huge gap between the rich and the poor. Major social problems derive from the very one income inequality. Education for example: this has a huge impact on us, there is a high demand for skilled and educated workers and there are high wages for those with good education. As a result, those who are unable to afford an education, or choose not to pursue educational options, generally receive much lower wages. Of course, education is not only one of the many problems, homicide and violence rate are an attributing fact to income inequality as well. The imprisonment are is increasing because of the violence, and drug use is also an issue derived from income inequality. There are more obesity, death of infants at birth, . . . etc.(Wikison) Richard Wikinson, a British researcher in social inequalities and a professor of social epistemology at the University of Nottingham, London, and University of York, has written a piece called “Spirit Level” where he presents charts and graphs using a coefficient scatter-gram, comparing multiple countries in the world; his results have given solid evidence to this argument. The charts in “Spirit Level” show the correlation between infant mortality at birth, drug use, obesity, imprisonment, homicide and income inequality. I felt shocked when I saw that in all charts, the US had the highest value, which meant the US had the highest rate in all of the implications listed above. In addition, the US health and social problems are worse in the states that have more income inequality.
Now, as active members of this society, we ought to speak up against it until the situation gets better; we need to get our heads together and think of a way that would at least stop the widening of the gap between the two social class. Taxes should be imposed on everyone, and they should pay the same percentage. It is ridiculous that a CEO pays less than his own secretary. The government should realize that recovering from the recession by taxing everyone equally is much better from cuts on education, health, social security, and laying off hard working men and women. I believe that the most active citizens of this society are whom who protest this inequality and nowadays we witness it in the Occupy Movement. Even though the number of protests and protesters have declined a bit, I still have hope that the people will have their saying and hopefully convince the government to take measures targeting economical injustice. Even though theses protests are always faced with a clash from the locals police forces, people seeking a better future keep going and become apart of the movement. We have to remember what the founding fathers have taught us: By the people for the …show more content…
people.
Hamza Hachim
English1A
Tuesday 1st May, 2012
OUTLINE:
I- Thesis: Issues such as inequality and racial discrimination in education, social environment, and economics had gone for too long, that it has been engraved in the American society as a way of life, a norm, and mainly permanent which applies that hope was and still is given up. Maybe reflecting on its effects could make us realize how serious this issue is.
II- Introduction to the first segment of the essay.
III- The chronological history of how income inequality came about and how far it really is expanding. 1- The era of the great depression 2- The 1960' throughout 1980's 3- 1980's to date.
IV- The political correct definition of income inequality from Dr. Benjamin Chavis who is an expert in this subject.
V- The introduction from Dr. Chavis to a method to calculates the extent to which the distribution on income is established in a country, and the shocking results that United States ranking.
VII- Income Inequality's effects globally.
VIII- Income Inequality's consequences locally, for example on education.
IX- Richard Wikinson, a british researcher in social inequalities explores other consequences of this issue in the United States.
X- Thinking of solutions to this problem.
XII- Conclusion: A hope for a better America.
Hamza Hachim
English1A
Tuesday 1st May, 2012
WORK CITED:
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>.
Chavis, Jr. Benjamin. Dr. Black American Income Inequality. January 5th, 2012. Black Voice News: <http://blackvoicenews.com/commentary/more-commentary/47287-black-american-income-inequality.html>.
King, Willford. The Wealth and Income of the People of the United States. 1915. University of Wisconsin Library.
Miles, D. Harer. The Differing Effects of Economic Inequality on Black and White Rates of Violence. Oxford Journals. <http://socialforces.unc.edu/content/70/4/1035.full.pdf+html?sid=308ff1bc-22bf-49d1-9722-aa695b89e064>.
Slack, Brian. The Gini Coefficient. The Geography of Transport:
<http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch4en/meth4en/ch4m1en.html>
Still to date, the problem of income inequality is an issue of a great importance for million of African-Americans and others who struggle to improve their quality of life. It must be known by now, that economic injustice has had a devastating impact on black communities all across America. Issues such as inequality and racial discrimination in education, the social environment, and economics have gone on for too long, and it has been engraved in the American society as a way of life, a norm, and permanently engraved in our mind, which implies that hope for a better change in the way of our lives ,was and still is given up. Income inequality has many implications on all of us: poverty, …show more content…
homicide and violence rate, drug use, education opportunities, to obesity. Reflecting on the effects of income inequality, it is critical to know the magnitude of this issue. When I started reading about this topic, I realized how little I knew about the history of American income inequality. I knew that significant inequalities exist today but I didn’t have a solid idea about how society became the way it is today, yet there was a very interesting story behind it. Chronologically, this issue arose in 1915, when a statistician named Willford King published The wealth and Income of the People of the Unites States, where he believed “that the richest one percent of Americans is in control of about 15 percent of the nation’s income. After dropping a bit in the late 1920's, income inequality reached it peak in 1929, just before the stock market crashed. This was a horrible time to be a poor person and a great time to be a rich person.”(King) From the 1940's to the 1960's, America had gotten back on rails and overcame the great depression. Afterwards, the economy of the country was going through a period of stabilization, leaving the gap between the rich and poor class tightened up, leading to more of an economic equality, which made America at that time a beautiful place to live in. However, starting in the 1970's, income inequality started rising back up. Following those events the great Divergence raged on; except for a brief period of the late 1990's, income inequality grew heavily. Despite periods of significant economic growth from the 1980's to the 2000's, more than 80 percent of the income growth was absorbed by the richest one percent of Americans, who today account for more than 30 percent of the nation's income. Meanwhile, the richest 0.1 percent of Americans, the really rich ones, have an income quadruple that of the 1 percent.(Barach) Actually, the story is very sad, as it has decided the fate of millions of Americans. An accurate definition of this social issue is important to help us acquire a deeper understanding of the implication of this problem. According to Dr. Benjamin Chavis Jr, who is an African American civil rights leader. He was an assistant to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who inspired him to work in the civil rights movement. Dr. Chavis rose to international prominence as the leader of the Wilmington Ten. A former Vice President of the National Council of Churches, Dr. Chavis became the Executive Director of the NAACP:
...It is the measurement of the distribution of income that highlights the gap between individuals or households making the most of income in a given country and those making the least for a period of time . . . when you add race as a distinguish characteristic, the widening gap of income inequality between blacks and whites in the US exposes the lingering impact of years of targeted discrimination and economic injustice imposed in the vast majority of black Americans. Income inequality is the extent of disparity between high income and low income households. (Chavis) Within the same Article, Dr. Chavis introduces a study called “The Gini Coefficient,” which represents a measurement of income inequality, and which theoretically calculates the extent to which the distribution of income among people in a country deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. Having known that this country is very rich, we surprisingly scored the highest ranking of income inequality by a score “46,”(Gini Coefficient) trumping all leading industrialized countries in the world. According to Dr. Brian Slack, “The Gini Coefficient;” named after an Italian statistician, Gorrado Gini, created the most commonly known measure of inequality. A Gini coefficient of zero represents perfect equality (which means everyone in a specific society has the same amount if income); a Gini coefficient of 100 represents perfect inequality. In the United States, 1 percent of the people overwhelmingly and increasingly control the wealth of the nation at the economic struggle of 99 percent of the people. If we take a look at this matter from a global point of view, the credit Suisse Research Institute just released a report that shows that the richest 0.5 percent of global giants hold well over a third of the entire wealth of the world. (Slack) Going back to the local situation, which we are all part of, our society suffers the consequences of this huge gap between the rich and the poor. Major social problems derive from the very one income inequality. Education for example: this has a huge impact on us, there is a high demand for skilled and educated workers and there are high wages for those with good education. As a result, those who are unable to afford an education, or choose not to pursue educational options, generally receive much lower wages. Of course, education is not only one of the many problems, homicide and violence rate are an attributing fact to income inequality as well. The imprisonment are is increasing because of the violence, and drug use is also an issue derived from income inequality. There are more obesity, death of infants at birth, . . . etc.(Wikison) Richard Wikinson, a British researcher in social inequalities and a professor of social epistemology at the University of Nottingham, London, and University of York, has written a piece called “Spirit Level” where he presents charts and graphs using a coefficient scatter-gram, comparing multiple countries in the world; his results have given solid evidence to this argument. The charts in “Spirit Level” show the correlation between infant mortality at birth, drug use, obesity, imprisonment, homicide and income inequality. I felt shocked when I saw that in all charts, the US had the highest value, which meant the US had the highest rate in all of the implications listed above. In addition, the US health and social problems are worse in the states that have more income inequality.
Now, as active members of this society, we ought to speak up against it until the situation gets better; we need to get our heads together and think of a way that would at least stop the widening of the gap between the two social class. Taxes should be imposed on everyone, and they should pay the same percentage. It is ridiculous that a CEO pays less than his own secretary. The government should realize that recovering from the recession by taxing everyone equally is much better from cuts on education, health, social security, and laying off hard working men and women. I believe that the most active citizens of this society are whom who protest this inequality and nowadays we witness it in the Occupy Movement. Even though the number of protests and protesters have declined a bit, I still have hope that the people will have their saying and hopefully convince the government to take measures targeting economical injustice. Even though theses protests are always faced with a clash from the locals police forces, people seeking a better future keep going and become apart of the movement. We have to remember what the founding fathers have taught us: By the people for the …show more content…
people.
Hamza Hachim
English1A
Tuesday 1st May, 2012
OUTLINE:
I- Thesis: Issues such as inequality and racial discrimination in education, social environment, and economics had gone for too long, that it has been engraved in the American society as a way of life, a norm, and mainly permanent which applies that hope was and still is given up. Maybe reflecting on its effects could make us realize how serious this issue is.
II- Introduction to the first segment of the essay.
III- The chronological history of how income inequality came about and how far it really is expanding. 1- The era of the great depression 2- The 1960' throughout 1980's 3- 1980's to date.
IV- The political correct definition of income inequality from Dr. Benjamin Chavis who is an expert in this subject.
V- The introduction from Dr. Chavis to a method to calculates the extent to which the distribution on income is established in a country, and the shocking results that United States ranking.
VII- Income Inequality's effects globally.
VIII- Income Inequality's consequences locally, for example on education.
IX- Richard Wikinson, a british researcher in social inequalities explores other consequences of this issue in the United States.
X- Thinking of solutions to this problem.
XII- Conclusion: A hope for a better America.
Hamza Hachim
English1A
Tuesday 1st May, 2012
WORK CITED:
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>.
Chavis, Jr. Benjamin. Dr. Black American Income Inequality. January 5th, 2012. Black Voice News: <http://blackvoicenews.com/commentary/more-commentary/47287-black-american-income-inequality.html>.
King, Willford. The Wealth and Income of the People of the United States. 1915. University of Wisconsin Library.
Miles, D. Harer. The Differing Effects of Economic Inequality on Black and White Rates of Violence. Oxford Journals. <http://socialforces.unc.edu/content/70/4/1035.full.pdf+html?sid=308ff1bc-22bf-49d1-9722-aa695b89e064>.
Slack, Brian. The Gini Coefficient. The Geography of Transport:
<http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch4en/meth4en/ch4m1en.html>