...Confronting Inequality In the article “Confronting Inequality” Paul Krugman compares the new millennia to the 1970’s and has many financial stats to back his theory of income inequality. He backs up his claims with facts and figures, but also gives his own solutions to these problems. Krugman states, “ The ugliness of our politics is in large part a reflection of the inequality of our income distribution.” He states that in the 1960’s was that the governments was in place to sere the best interests of society and that many in modern society believe that government only serves “a few big interests”. His other argument is comparing or capital gains tax to that of other countries. Paul backs up his argument,...” very highly trained British employees face an effective tax rate almost 48 percent in France people with 15 percent in the United States”. Another point he made, he quotes Eric Uslaner and Mitchel Brown is, “In a world of haves and have nots those at either end of the economic spectrum have little reason to believe that most people can be trusted... social trust rest on a foundation of economic equality.” This quote makes me think that in his view everyone serves a function. Some more tan others and strive for economic equality is what we base our lives around. We need people to work in Slaughterhouses, build our cars, and clean our sewers. The fear is that people will not do these jobs without a monetary stimulant. How I interpreted Paul Krugman’s response was the...
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...Home Page » English and Literature Confronting Inequality In: English and Literature Confronting Inequality Confronting Inequality In the article “Confronting Inequality” Paul Krugman compares the new millennia to the 1970’s and has many financial stats to back his theory of income inequality. He backs up his claims with facts and figures, but also gives his own solutions to these problems. Krugman states, “ The ugliness of our politics is in large part a reflection of the inequality of our income distribution.” He states that in the 1960’s was that the governments was in place to sere the best interests of society and that many in modern society believe that government only serves “a few big interests”. His other argument is comparing or capital gains tax to that of other countries. Paul backs up his argument,...” very highly trained British employees face an effective tax rate almost 48 percent in France people with 15 percent in the United States”. Another point he made, he quotes Eric Uslaner and Mitchel Brown is, “In a world of haves and have nots those at either end of the economic spectrum have little reason to believe that most people can be trusted... social trust rest on a foundation of economic equality.” This quote makes me think that in his view everyone serves a function. Some more tan others and strive for economic equality is what we base our lives around. We need people to work in Slaughterhouses, build our cars, and clean our sewers. The...
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...Confronting Inequality Response Paul Krugman in “Confronting Inequality” tries to explain how bad inequality is and the things that can bring inequality up or down. He gives reasons of why he and Americans should care about the rising inequality. Krugman says, “One reason to care about inequality is the straight forward matter of living standards. The lack of clear economic progress for lower and middle income families is in itself an important reason to seek a more equal distribution of income” (322). Krugman also uses many quotes from people who have had a big impact on America to help argue his point about inequality. Quote that stuck out on its own was the one Thomas Jefferson said, “The small landowners are the most precious part of a state” (323). This quote is stating that middle class is very important to a state. “High Inequality…Nation much weakened middle class, has a corrosive effect on social relations and politics…America has moved deeper into a new Gilded Age” (323). Krugman says, “One of the best arguments I’ve ever seen for the social costs of inequality came from a movement conservative trying to argue the opposite” (323). He then quotes the conservative Kristol “We shouldn’t worry about income inequality, because whatever the numbers say, class distinctions are, in reality, all but gone” (323). Although he doesn’t agree with this quote he uses it to better show the controversy between your average liberals and conservatives...
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...Marcos Contreras-Romo ENG 111 Paper 2 Mickey MacAdam February 21, 2016 “Confronting Inequality” vs “The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream” “Confronting inequality” by Paul Krugman and “The (futile) pursuit of the American dream” by Barbara Ehrenreich are both mainly about how the middle-class is always having to sacrifice their free time from work in order to have some sort of strategic advantage against their competitors so that they can maintain their current career status and jobs. According to Ehrenreich and Krugman, inequality is a concern for all Americans because it affects their way of life in a negative way. For example, inequality could lower their salaries and cause people to get demoted from their current jobs, and even get...
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...My position on wealth inequality is similar to Brandon King's in the sense that I do not believe raising taxes on the upper-class is the solution, since by raising taxes on the rich results in them being less likely to spend money and, therefore, cannot help the economy. King asserts this notion by stating, "money that goes to businesses helps drive the economy, and raising taxes on the rich would be counterproductive." More importantly, I agree with King's sentiment that the upper class should not be scrutinized for their well being, but instead aided in further growth in order to fix the economy. Assisting the upper class by giving them more assistance in their business has the potential to further stimulate the economy and it's growth, as...
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...Paul Krugman begins this article by asking the audience why rising inequality matters. This positions him to lead into the reasons why it is important to lower and middle class American’s. Coupled with his examples of importance, he suggests policy reform to help fix these issues. Krugman believes the middle class is disintegrating; he uses a simple quote from Thomas Jefferson to bring forward the idea that men who believed the middle class to be the most important part of the nation founded our country. He addresses the opposition that economic inequality is now balanced by social equality. Moving forward he breaks down the argument with the fact that middle class parents are willing to indebt themselves more than ever before in order to...
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...Do you believe that Capitalism is moral? Justify you answer. Capitalism can be defined ideally as an economic system in which the major portion of production and distribution is in private hands, operating under what is termed a profit or market system. (Shaw et al. 2013, p.118) As compared to other forms of economic systems, capitalism benefits the society in various ways (and based on utilitarian argument, this will be morally preferred because the balance of good over bad is the greatest). Few would deny that capitalism is the most productive and efficient economic system, especially after the collapse of Soviet Communism. But some critics still contend that capitalism is not a moral system. Yet morality is impossible unless one is free to choose between alternatives without outside coercion. Since capitalism is based on freedom of choice, it provides the best environment for morality and character development. In addition, business success not only requires but also rewards virtuous behavior by participants in the market. A social system such as capitalism is a system of relationships and cannot be moral or immoral in the sense that a person can be – only individuals can be moral agents. However, a social system can be moral in its effects if it promotes the possibility and likelihood of moral behavior by individuals who act within it. It follows, then; that there is a moral imperative to create a political and economic system that permits the greatest possibility...
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...Running head: SOMETHING HAPPENING HERE There’s Something Happening Here: Occupying Wall Street Mindy Newell, R.N., CNOR Grand Canyon University NRS – 432V Teresa Ortner, RNC, MSNEd October 8, 2011 There’s Something Happening Here: Occupying Wall Street The Plan of Action On September 17, 2011, nearly 1,000 protesters gathered around the symbolic sculpture of a charging bull that is the focal point of Bowling Green Park, which is in the financial district of downtown Manhattan, to say to the kings of Wall Street “Enough! No more! You will not continue to profit on the broken backs and weary shoulders of we, the people! You will not destroy the American dream with your greed!” They did not leave, but hoisted tents and unrolled sleeping bags to “Occupy Wall Street” (Smith, 2011). Since that day, the movement has spread across the country, from New York up the coast to Boston, down the coast through Washington to Miami, and across the country through Chicago and St. Louis all the way to Los Angeles, from large metropolises to small towns across America. It has become a genuine social and political movement, utilizing both old media such as newspapers and television news and new media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube (Ellis, Raja & Follman, 2011). Major labor unions, such as National Nurses United, the AFL-CIO, the Communications Workers of America, the United Auto Workers, the United Federation of Teachers, the Writers Guild...
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...Matthew Andre ENC1101 Professor Neuman December 8, 2011 The Problem Even Congress Cannot Fix: Inequality in America The big story that has been all over the news in recent times is none other than the massive bear of a problem: inequality in America. This not so white elephant has dominated American news stations, but nonetheless has not been resolved. There is without a doubt financial inequality in America, and the main problems with this financial inequality are the flawed educational system where rich dumb kids have a much better chance to graduate college than a hard working poor kid, and the increasingly large gap between the rich and the poor. The cause for the problem of unequal opportunity in schooling is inherently the quality of instructors and schools across the nation, and the cause for the overwhelming rift between social classes is a flawed tax system which punishes success and benefits the poor. Furthermore, the solutions for these two massive problems would be to reform the American educational system to a performance based system and a reformed tax system that broadens the tax base and encourages success. Certainly, the level of financial inequality is an issue. But, why is it such an issue? One of the major underlying problems with financial inequality is the face that rich dumb kids that maybe be in the bottom twenty-five percent of their school but come from families that are in the top twenty-five percent of the socio-economic spectrum have a significantly...
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...according to the more intense spending habits of Americans. In order to living the American Dream, Brandon lists solutions to three main problems, inequality, economic insecurity and eroded faith in the American Dream. In sum, he believes that though existing, inequality is not a reason for the lost of American Dream in the poor and supporting the top businesses would help the recovery of economy. He also highlights the values and rules of the American Dream, which would help living and inheritance of this spirit. From my perspective, I agree with the main problems he concludes but for some of his solutions, I stand on the opposite site of the author. I think narrowing the income gap is very significant and so do supporting businesses, while the dependence of the spirit itself is in the less important position. Following are my analysis of each argument. According to the article, inequality is regarded as the most worrisome problem by many people. In contrast with economists like Robert Reich and Paul Krugman who believe that the concentration of wealth at the top would not help living the American Dream because it enlarges the income gap and exacerbates the Great Recession, Brandon thinks the income gap is not the excuse for losing American Dream in the more poor people, so it makes little sense for government to make policies to narrow the income gap. I think his argument is not tenable. We all...
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...“The concentration of wealth has also led to a concentration of political power.” (Davis) Davis is a making a point discussing that wealth is getting in the way of a prosperous society. Today one Coppedge 3 cannot progress and be successful by the downfall of others greed. It is human nature to get ahead, but what is at stake? Princeton professor, Paul Krugman stated, “Our political leaders are doing everything they can to fortify class inequality, while denouncing anyone who complains.” (Krugman,) Which clarifies that today’s government does not want anyone to gain fortune in distress of becoming a threat. This confirms that humans are greedy and do not want others to achieve which eventually hurts the economy. People feel the need to push others out of the way in order to achieve. Avarice today is preventing the economy from getting ahead. Consistently individuals fall short of goals and dreams. One might exclaim the government has nearly made success nearly impossible. Researcher, Barbara J. Lipman explains, “a growing number of working families are unable to afford adequate housing, and many others pay more than of their own income to secure housing.” (Lipman, 1) Lipman made a valid...
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...Gerardo Contreras Gene Lee Econ203 March 1 2013 Income Inequality in America Dissemination of income in America has been a major topic of study by many institutions as well as scholars. Statistics have been gathered from numerous sources, which show that the problem of income inequality has significantly risen since 1970. Income inequality was stabilized for many years. Although income inequality has increased amongst the elite countries in the world, America suffers from this problem the most. Research shows that cause of the wide gap in income inequality has not been decided by gender, which by the way has decreased in America in last twenty years. The Income inequality gap has also not been because of race, or the gap been amongst middle class and lower class, however it has increased. The main reason exists and lies amongst the middle class and highest wage earners, with the disparity being extra dangerous as an individual’s income increases. It is stated that upward redistribution can be held accountable for forty percent of the forecasted Social Security deficit in the following century. Research states that in 2011 it was established that the highest earning one percent of families multiplied about 275 percent after federal taxes and income transfers over a period of 28, compared to a gain of just fewer than 40 percent of the 60 percent in the middle of America's income distribution. Additional researchers found that the trend has continually been ongoing since...
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...WEEK 3 ASSIGNMENT: THE GREAT RECESSION JONATHAN MOONEY MARCH 24, 2013 MBA 510: ECONOMICS Most economists consider the Great Recession of 2008 to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The sequence of economic events affected the entire global economy, with certain countries being hit harder than others. In the end, the collapse resulted in the total collapse of large financial institutions, the bailout of banks by national governments, and downturns in stock markets around the world. The housing market also suffered, resulting in evictions, foreclosures and prolonged unemployment. The crisis played a significant role in the failure of key businesses, declines in consumer wealth estimated in trillions of US dollars, and a downturn in economic activity leading to a global recession and contributing to the European sovereign-debt crisis. Most experts agree that one of the most important contributors to the recession was the collapse of the housing bubble. This led to an extremely high rate of loan defaults for people who probably should not have been given those loans in the first place. Due to the practice of predatory lending, many unsuspecting people were offered mortgages that they could not afford; however these people were convinced by lenders and realtors that they would be able to refinance those properties in a year or two and make tons of money. Since, the housing market was strong at the time, many people jumped on this opportunity,...
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...C. Wright Mills proposed the power-elite theory in 1956, which states that there is a power elite in modern societies, an elite who commands the resources of vast bureaucratic organizations that have come to dominate industrial societies. According to Mills, the power elite are the key people in the three major institutions of modern society- military, economy and the government (Mills 1956). It is the elite that occupy these leadership positions within the bureaucracies. Although this theory was proposed in what may have been a simpler time, the structure of power in America remains very much the same, as does the close relationship between the military, corporate, and government elites. Mills placed the military as one of the triumvirate groups that comprised the power elite. The military has been elevated to a position of prestige and power and the present class of professional soldiers has had an impact that is far greater than just military affairs. In World War II, large corporations tied to the defense industry rose in power and influence and formed the origins of what President Eisenhower called the military industrial complex (Swanson). The war brought a bureaucratic centralization of power. In more recent times, the demands of foreign affairs, the dangers of potential adversaries, the sophistication and mystique of new weapons, and especially the development of the means of mass destruction have all given power to our highest military leaders (Reynolds). Corporations...
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...1. What is the inflation rate? Is inflation a worry or are we in a period of stable prices? Inflation is the overall increase of price for goods and services. Inflation rate is the percentage in which the prices increases on goods and services. This rate is typically determined by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the Producer Price Index (PPI). The Bureau of Labor Statistics generates data monthly on the changes of prices. To calculate the inflation rate, you would take the difference in price from two different period of times (years), divide the answer by the original price and multiply that by 100 to get the percentage. The current inflation rate of the United States was calculated through August 2014 and published on September 17 at 1.7%. Price stability is achieved when prices stay constant over an extended period of time or the fluctuation is minimal and easily determined. Currently inflation is at a low but does not necessarily mean the economy is out of trouble. These lower prices may be a prediction to possible problems in the future of the global market. Therefore current inflation is not a concern but its current decrease may be a concern for the future. Websites: http://www.investorwords.com/2452/inflation.html www.bls.gov/cpi/ www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/current-inflation-rates http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fading-inflation-good-for-consumers-but-hints-at-lurking-threats-2014-10-19 2. What is the unemployment rate? Will a high unemployment...
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