Robert Reich Inequality For All

“Inequality for All” is a movie reveals the truth about the United States’ economy with a speaker used to be the Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, Robert Reich. Throughout the film, Robert gradually proves what is happening in terms of the distribution of income and wealth, why and is it a problem. He provides plenty of graphics, interview

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,

Edin and Skinner begin their article by explaining to their readers that income inequality is a prevalent and complex problem in America today. The authors also point out that although President Obama and several other Democrats have proposed legislative approaches, such as raising the minimum wage and taxing the rich, to combat this problem, it will take a long time for these proposals to become law due to the Republican-dominated Congress. Because the authors believe these laws will take too long to be put into

The film “Inequality for All” discusses the declining wage-earnings of the American middle class by former labor secretary under President Bill Clinton, Robert Reich. Reich presents economic information in such a complex way for everybody to understand and become engaged in the situation we are going through as a country. Reich was first introduced to Bill Clinton during a scholarship cruise in 1968. Reich became seasick on the cruise and Clinton was kind enough to bring Reich a cup of soup and that’s how it all began. After working under Clinton for several years, Reich became an economics professor in Berkley University.

In “inequality for all”, a documentary presented and narrated by Robert Reich, Reich discusses what is happening in terms of the distribution of income and wealth in the US, why it is happening, and is it a problem. “Inequality for all” is directed by Jacob Kornbluth, it premiered in 2013, and it runs for 90 minutes. Reich studied at the University of Oxford in during the late 1960’s, where he befriended future president Bill Clinton. Subsequently, they kept in touch, and in 1993, when Clinton was elected president, he reached out to Reich, to be secretary of labor. Reich was in office for the following four years, and today he is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. For about three decades now, Reich announced that out of all developed countries, the US has the most unequal distribution of wealth, and that inequality is getting even greater in the US. In the documentary, the most compelling topics covered by Reich, are the changes that started happening in the late 1970’s, the fact that 42 percent of Americans born into poverty stay poor, and that nowadays, money controls politics.

In “Confronting Inequality”, author Paul Krugman explains how bad income inequality is for the American economy while suggesting what to do to fix this growing problem. Krugman covers topics such as the cost of inequality, how the middle class is over extending themselves, education and health care all while appealing to all three rhetorical elements. Krugman’s article has an overall effective and persuasive argument because of the topics he covers and his appeal to the reader with pathos, logos and ethos.

(An Analysis of Why The Rich Are Getting Richer And the Poor, Poorer, by Robert B. Reich)

The following memorandum is a direct response to Robert Reich’s book Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future (2013). It includes an overview of Reich’s diagnosis of the economic issues facing America, as well as relevant analysis for consideration by the President and Congress. The following text considers a potential prescription for the issue of income equality and a prediction regarding the potential action or inaction of the United States government on these issues.

In the movie Inequality for All, Robert Reich stated, “you don't necessarily need to be elected president of the United States or be a secretary of labor to have a huge impact. You can be a leader” (Kornbluth, n.d.). For me, this piece of advice was very inspiring. This statement alone is very important to me, as it is something I will continue to use as I journey into my career and life itself. It’s important for people to understand the impact that a single act can have as something so small to one person can make a world of difference to another. Being a leader is so much more then "a title" that one carries. Also, the statement “…I do believe absolutely that most of the return that's being created isn't creating any kind of social utility

There is no doubt that wealth inequality in America has been escalating quickly; the portion of total income earned by the top one percent has doubled since the beginning of the 1970’s. The wealthy are the main beneficiaries

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 Congressional Budget Office has concluded that between 1979 and 2007, the imbalance in income has more than tripled between the top 1 percent of the population and the majority” (Reich). After federal taxes and transfer payments, the income of the top 1 percent rose by 275 percent, while it rose less than 40 percent for the middle, working, and lower classes and only 18 percent for the under-class. “According to the Census Bureau, average household incomes have been declining, while the income of the wealthiest 1 percent has risen by 31 percent. Economist, Emmanuel Saez, has estimated that about 95 percent of all economic gains since the recovery of the 2008 recession have gone to the top 1 percent” (Reich).

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

From 1938-1969, in America was in a period called the great compression, a time where the difference between the richest and poorest Americans was very small and economic growth was explosive. Due to past and current economic policies and events, income inequality has exploded in America, which is why in 2015 America had the highest level of wealth inequality in the world at 80.56 gini[1] . In the future this inequality will slow down economic growth, increase debt for middle income Americans, make America less democratic, and reduce economic mobility. This problem, however, does have solutions and this paper will lay out some of the solutions and the effect they will have on the economy, but first I will explain the history of income inequality in the US.

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