Essay on wealth inequality in america - 1518 Words

Trevyn Maruyama Suzuki 6 Closing the Income Gap In today’s capitalist economy, where economic transactions and business in general is centered on self-interest, there is a natural tendency for some people to make more than others. That is the basis for the â€Å"American Dream,† where people, if they worked hard, could make money proportional to their effort. However, what happens when this natural occurrence grows disproportional in its allocation of wealth within a society? The resulting issue becomes income inequality. Where a small portion of the population, own the majority of the wealth and the majority of the population own only a fraction of what the rich own. This prominent issue has always been the subject of social tension†¦show more content†¦Sure stocks went down and business went belly up, but it was the workers and not the CEOs that took the fall. When business and corporations were hit by the recession, what would be the most effective way of minimizing their cost? By cutting their wo rker’s pay, even the CEO’s. However, the CEO’s pay cut could not nearly match the cuts of all the companies’ workers so the income gap grew even wider. There are many other factors that can be credited as sources of the wealth gap but the most important question remains, how can it be fixed? Combating the wealth gap is tricky business and because the income gap is so wide, it would require more than two presidential terms or one straight forward policy to fix it. Income inequality and economic growth have a positive correlation meaning the economy cannot maximize its growth potential if income inequality is high, so there are two ways to approach this issue; one being from the economy and business side to increase economic growth and hopefully stabilize income inequality and two being to tackle the wealth gap directly to promote economic expansion. The latter would tackle the problem head on but would require more work while the first option is not a guarantee fix and could make the problem even worse. The only sure fix would be to close the income gap directly to promote economic wellbeing. Two options that could be explored to do so would be; one: use government intervention to further shape market forcesShow MoreRelatedWealth Inequality In America1078 Words   |à ‚  5 PagesJames Madison once stated inequality of the rich and poor predicament to be â€Å"evil† and believed that the government should avoid an â€Å"immoderate, and especially unmerited, accumulation of riches† (Johnston, 2016). As one of the founding fathers of our nation, James Madison had a concern about the separation between the rich and the poor. He felt the government should do what it could to avoid the separation, which one can infer that he meant for the government to tax the rich by a greater percentageRead MoreAmerica s Income And Wealth Inequality987 Words   |  4 PagesToday in America, income and wealth inequality has continued to grow at an unsettling pace. The rich continue to get richer, while the number of people categorized as lower class grows exponentially. As Joseph Stiglitz has explained, many theories that are seen as strongly Republican, such as the trickle-down effect, has caused the rich to take money from the poor, and as a result t he lower class grows and the middle class disintegrates. The top 1 percent of America’s households currently holds 30Read MoreThe Vast Wealth Inequality Of America And The Rest Of The World1906 Words   |  8 PagesThe vast wealth inequality in America (and the rest of the world) has been cited as a problem by Obama in many of his State Of The Union address, the Chairwoman of the Federal Reserve Janet Yellen, and many other liberal politicians and economists. Their talk about the problem of how the â€Å"1%† help perpetuate the wealth inequality has brought this issue to the forefront of society. In America, many citizens believe firmly in the idea of equality. The fact that some people have more money than theyRead MoreEssay Inequality of Wealth and Income Distribution in America1357 Words   |  6 PagesInequality of Wealth and Income Distribution in America Every American dreams of finding a job that pays well enough so that they may comfortably take care of their loved ones and themselves for years to come. 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It uses charts to explain inRead MoreWealth Inequality Of The United States1283 Words   |  6 Pages Wealth Inequality According to Inequality.org, â€Å"We equate wealth with ‘net worth,’ the sum total of your assets minus liabilities. Assets can include everything from an owned personal residence and cash in savings accounts to investments in stocks/bonds, real estate, and retirement accounts. Liabilities cover what a household owes: a car loan, credit card balance, student loan, mortgage, or any other bill yet to be paid. In the United States, wealth inequality runs even more pronounced than incomeRead MoreThe American Tax Code : How Our Government s The Wealthy1448 Words   |  6 Pagesin tax benefits in 2013 (CBO). America does not treat all sources of earnings equally. Currently, the American tax code’s approach to income tax progressivity is focused on economic models in which labor is the only source of income. 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Economic Inequality is the thing that makesRead MoreA Brief Examination Of Wealth Inequality1663 Words   |  7 PagesA Brief Examination of Wealth Inequality in America Thomas Buonanno Debating U.S. Issues April 7, 2017 With every passing moment, the problem gets worse, and many people in this country do not even know it exists. Over the past few decades, the middle class has slowly begun to disappear as trillions of dollars have shifted to the top 1% of the country. This pandemic so infiltrated the American economy that the richest 400 individuals in America today own more wealth than the poorest 150 million