Primary Causes Of Income Inequality

The issue of income inequality is a reoccurring theme in Maria Konnikova’s article “America’s Surprising Views on Income Inequality” as well as Barbara Ehrenreich’s memoir Nickel and Dimed. To commence, Konnikova writes about the rapid growing gap between the rich and the poor. In particular, she elucidates, “Income inequality has grown by record amounts since the 2008 recession: between 2009 and 2012, incomes for the top one per cent of the population rose by more than thirty per cent, while those for the rest of the country-the bottom ninety-nine per cent-increased by less than half of one per cent” (Konnikova 1). Clearly, it is difficult for low-class individuals to make enough money to support themselves and their families. Furthermore,

Education and wealth have a big impact on income inequality. Education and wealth go hand in hand when talking about income inequality. When a family is more wealthy, they can afford a better education. One article from ACE states that “currently in America, getting a postsecondary degree—in particular a bachelor’s degree—generally results in higher incomes, greater job choice, satisfaction, and security, as well as other outcomes considered good for our society, such as voting and community service.” This is important because if

The author provides great detail in each rhetorical category and causes the reader to associate on a personal level. While connecting the audience with the message Ms. Lepore also causes the reader to feel a deep-seated responsibility to be part of the solution. She delivers a broad overview of statistical data from many sources to lend credibility to her position. Jill Lepore uses a very logical approach to show the reader there is a large income inequality gap in the U.S. The author shows there is a direct correlation between the inequality of income and the inequality of

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 last issue concerning wealth inequality is the health and well being of the lower class. The high rates of social problems: lower rates of performance in school, life expectancy, incarceration, teenage pregnancy along with health problems like obesity and heart disease are directly effected by the United States high inequality. The reason for poor school performance is that children of the lower class typically do not plan on going to college because they cannot afford it. If they do not plan on going to college, they don’t believe there is a reason to put a lot of effort and succeed in high school.

Furthermore, the equality of opportunities as one of the foundations of the American dream turned into evident inequality. “The lion’s share of economic growth in American over the past thirty years has gone to a small, wealthy minority, to such an extent that it’s unclear whether the typical family has benefited at all from technological progress and the rising productivity it brings” (Krugman 586). Income inequality has been steadily growing since 2008 when the global financial crisis erupted. Moreover, the gap in prosperity between the group of Americans with high income and all the others had never been such extreme as it is now. Thus, not everyone has the opportunity to become wealthy through hard work. The increase in socioeconomic inequalities,

The gap between the rich and poor in the United States is constantly growing, due to the fact that minimum wage is low for the poor but not for the rich. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. There is no gray area in this situation. According to A Project of The Institute for Policy Studies, “The top 0.1 percent is taking in over 184 times the income of the bottom 90 percent.” There

Americans today live in a distinctly unequal society. Inequality is now wider than it used to be in the last century, and the division in income, wages, and wealth are broader than they are in other developed economies of the world. Wealth inequality is the imbalance of wealth or income within a society, and it is one of the most vital economic challenge the US is facing today because the distribution of wealth is more dispersed, making the inequality in wealth distribution at its highest. While the matter has been discussed for many years, the actual income disparity in the U.S. has heightened and is now verging on an extreme gap that portends to impede long-term economic growth. The huge gap between the wealthy and poor is squeezing the U.S. economy, the wealth gap threatens economic growth by diminishing social mobility and producing a less-educated workforce who are not able to compete in the global economy. unrestrained level of income inequality causes political pressures, it discourages trade, investment, and hiring. The present level of income inequality in the U.S. is shrinking GDP growth, and the world's largest economy is struggling to recover from the Great Recession.

Although the United States may be an industrialized country, it still “…has one of the highest poverty rates in the advanced world” in comparison to other similar countries (Conley 400). This may be due to the high economic inequality between the rich and the poor with “economic rewards [being] far more lopsided” (Conley 400). The American class system is unlike any other industrialized nation in the world as the rich make an average of five to six times more income than the poor: a

In Robert Reich documentary “Inequality for All” he makes a compelling discussion about the serious crises that the United States faces due the widening economic gap. He looks to raise awareness of the U.S. economic gap between the rich and poor. According to Reich the widening divide in America is real and growing. Income levels at the middle and labor class is stagnant and are at it’s lowest levels compared to upper class incomes since the beginning of WWII and is growing wider each year. Reich suggests that the economy runs more smoothly when the middle class has jobs with fair wages, when unions are strong, and when middle class workers have some extra money to spend if possible when the government uses the tax policy properly and when it raises the minimum wage regularly to control the income gap between labor and management. In other words Reich argues that economically healthy middle and labor class equality is the foundation of a thriving economy and is necessary to maintaining a sound national infrastructure and educational system within

In other words, America has a widening gap between its wealthy and poor. As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, there is a problem emerging: the disappearance of the middle class. Low-wage workers continue to fall behind those who make higher wages, and this only widens the gap between the two. There has been an economic boom in the United States, which has made the country more prosperous than it has ever been. That prosperity does not reach all people; it seems to only favor the rich. Rising economic segregation has taken away many opportunities for the poor to rise in America today. The poor may find that the economic boom has increased their income; however, as their income increase so does the prices they must for their living expenses (Dreier, Mollenkopf, & Swanstrom 19).

Gary Becker’s and Kevin Murphy’s article, “The Upside of Income Inequality”, analyzes the positive effects of the income gap, and Paul Krugman’s New York Times column, “Confronting Inequality”, stresses the negative impact of the income gap; it is apparent by juxtaposing these two texts that income inequality can be effected by economic development, education, and social equality.

The highest earning fifth of U.S. families earned 59.1% of all income, while the richest earned 88.9% of all wealth. A big gap between the rich and poor is often associated with low social mobility, which contradicts the American ideal of equal opportunity. Levels of income inequality are higher than they have been in almost a century, the top one percent has a share of the national income of over 20 percent (Wilhelm). There are a variety of factors that influence income inequality, a few of which will be discussed in this paper. Rising income inequality is caused by differences in life expectancy, rapidly increases in the incomes of the top 5 percent, social trends, and shifts in the global economy.

Income inequality in the United States has developed since the nineteenth century and the industrial age. Historically the Rockefellers, Carnegies, and Mellons of the industrial age were the individuals that understood that wealth was capable of transforming anyone’s life if society provided the window of opportunity. For those men the industrial age brought significant social change that forever changed the landscape of the American work force, and began a surge of possibilities in the nation that continues today. Through the past the wealthy were capable of discovering how the developments in the labor market, and the changing make-up of households could develop into millions of dollars if one knew what the working

While America’s economic system is one of the most praised in the opinions of some third world countries, citizens currently living in poverty would beg to differ. In America, social inequality is evident daily and commonly recognize as upper class, middle class, and low class; consequently, one is either super rich, in between, or super poor. Social inequality can