...Is it still possible to carry out the original American Dream? The one where a poor kid living in complete poverty can strike it rich in America with a vision, some hard work, and a whole lot of determination. Up until the years within the 1980’s, this dream was certainly one that was realistic. However, the gap in wealth inequality that has been growing since around that time seems to be shutting down hope. The ladder that stretches from the lower class to the upper class is getting longer and more arduous to climb. Opportunities that lead to success are limited the further down one would go into the lower class. Motivation is diminished because of the slighter chance of becoming satisfyingly successful. Because of this, there needs to be a way to narrow the gap between rich and poor. Wealth redistribution poses as a possible effective solution to fix the exceedingly large gap in wealth inequality. There is plenty of evidence to show that the wealth inequality gap in the United States is exceedingly high. As shown in Figure 1 (Wealth Inequality in America 2012), Americans are aware of the wide gap, and even conclude that the gap should be narrower and wealth should be more evenly distributed. However, the chart on the top shows the reality of wealth distribution. It is remarkably skewed, and exceptionally different from the popular vision of the distribution chart, not...
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...video “Wealth Inequally in America,” I was not surprise but disgusted. What happen to the American dream; working hard and going to school can change your life. Are we living into a “bamboozle” want-to-be fantasy? It seems like reality does not exist anymore; everything is a make believe society. Reality is often not what we think it is, is the American dream a hoax? Is it still possible to start out poor in this country, work hard and become rich? Recently, I watch this show “Undercover Boss” just to sum it up wealth CEO pretending to be a laborers which at the end offering workers various funds. According to the video “CEO pay is 380 times average workers,” (Politizane, 2012). In the past 40 years,...
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...Building a Better America—One Wealth Quintile at a Time Perspectives on Psychological Science 6(1) 9–12 ª The Author(s) 2011 Reprints and permission: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1745691610393524 http://pps.sagepub.com Michael I. Norton1 and Dan Ariely2 1 Harvard Business School, Boston, MA, and 2Department of Psychology, Duke University, Durham, NC Abstract Disagreements about the optimal level of wealth inequality underlie policy debates ranging from taxation to welfare. We attempt to insert the desires of ‘‘regular’’ Americans into these debates, by asking a nationally representative online panel to estimate the current distribution of wealth in the United States and to ‘‘build a better America’’ by constructing distributions with their ideal level of inequality. First, respondents dramatically underestimated the current level of wealth inequality. Second, respondents constructed ideal wealth distributions that were far more equitable than even their erroneously low estimates of the actual distribution. Most important from a policy perspective, we observed a surprising level of consensus: All demographic groups—even those not usually associated with wealth redistribution such as Republicans and the wealthy—desired a more equal distribution of wealth than the status quo. Keywords inequality, fairness, justice, political ideology, wealth, income Most scholars agree that wealth inequality in the United States is at historic...
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...Domhoff’s article, Wealth, Income, and Power, he examines wealth distribution in the United States, specifically financial inequality. He concludes that the wealthiest 10% of the United States effectively owns America, and that this is due in large part to an increase in unequal distribution of wealth between 1983 and 2004. Domhoff also states that the unequal wealth distribution is due in large part to tax cuts for the wealthy and the defeat of labor unions. Most of Domhoff’s information is accurate and includes strong, valid arguments and statements. However, there is room for improvement when identifying the subject of what is causing the inequality. The most important points made in Domhoff’s article are his statistics, the reason behind the unequal wealth distribution, and his closing statement concerning the top 10%. In his article, Domhoff cites many statistics regarding the distribution of wealth between America’s top and bottom percentiles. There is quite a bit of research to back up his claims, and his data is generally very accurate. However, when it comes to the cause of such gaps in wealth distribution, there is more to consider than simply tax cuts and labor unions. Domhoff begins with a broad overview of wealth distribution in the United States. He states that the top 1% held 34.6% of all privately held wealth, with 85% in the hands of the top 20%, leaving the bottom 80% in control of only 15% of privately held wealth. In terms of financial wealth, he states that...
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...Although Latin America has faced many social, political, and economic issues within the last three centuries, inequality remains one of the most important, historical, and omnipresent aspects of the region’s culture. As Europeans took over Latin America during the time of colonization, they implemented many elitist social structures that have held strong and are evident today (Harris). Income inequality is the most visible and greatest disparity that the region faces; yet inequality between gender, ethnicities, and education remain strong and significant problems with a necessity for improvement. Inequality of wealth and disparity of power and influence are Latin American’s greatest curses and are at the root of many of the developmental, social, criminal, and political problems that continue to plague the region (De Ferranti). Since inequality has pervaded into every feature of Latin American society, it is important to measure inequality accurately in order to obstruct the causes of the discrimination and prevent new ones from beginning. The Gini Coefficient is an effective way that people indicate the inequality of a country by measuring a frequency distribution of income or wealth. Using the "Gini Index" of inequality in the distribution of income and consumption, the researchers found that Latin America and the Caribbean, from the 1970s through the 1990s, measured nearly 10 points more unequal than Asia, 17.5 points more unequal than the 30 countries in the Organization...
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...Sam Cornell INTRODUCTION I. Financial inequality is greater now than it has been at anytime in the last century, and the gaps in wages, income, and wealth in America, are wider here than they are in any other developed economy. II. THESIS STATEMENT: Wealth inequality in the USA does not allow those living in poverty to climb out and join the middle class, and keeps most wealth, power, and privilege in the hands of a select few. (Transition History} BODY I. After the Stock Market Crash of 1929, the gap between the rich and the poor began to narrow. (Borrow, pg. 167) A. The current rise of inequality in America can be traced back to 1979. B. Wages still differed greatly between the upper- and working-classes. 1. Unequal educational opportunites 2. Inherited wealth means unequal distribution 3. Discrimination (Race, gender, sexuality) 1. According to the Pew Research Center, the top 7 percent of all U.S. households own 63 percent of all the wealth in the country. According the U.S. Census buruo are living in poverty. That is a brand new all-time record high. (Transition: How?) II. Owning a home, then equal pay for equal work, and then having a college degree are the three factors that can make the biggest difference in closing the wealth gap A. Working towards goals such as education and home ownership will help people living in poverty bridge the gap...
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...Finical District was movement organized by people to expose corruptions in cooperate America. The Occupy Wall Street Movement was known, as the peaceful protest due to it’s non-violent, non-aggressive nature and spread to over a one hundred and fifty cities cross the United Sates. Moral and ethical implications are the essentially what is right or wrong This paper looks at the moral and ethical implications related to the movement and uses some common ethical theories to determine which applies best to the issues surrounding the movement. The Occupy Wall Street Movement began in Zuccotti Park in New York City. Being that the park was private police did not have the right to kick the group of protesters out. The pretest was the people’s reaction to cooperate greed, social inequality, and the power of big business over the democratic process. Their slogan was heard across America, “we are the 99 percent.” They believed that one percent of the population; the banks, the mortgage industry and large corporations were controlling all of the countries wealth and preventing the ninety nine percent from prospering (The Occupy Wall Street Movement, 2012). Thousands of people organized across the United States in major cites and college campuses. To get there message heard. They sought to expose cooperate greed and unethical business practices and put an end to the unequal financial distribution of wealth (The Occupy Wall Street Movement, 2012). The movement was supported by democrats...
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...Anthony Giovenco Political Science Inequality Paper 12-18-14 The Effects of Wealth Inequality in the United States Wealth inequality in the United States has grown tremendously since 1970. The United States continuously reveals higher rates of inequality as a result of perpetual support for free market capitalism. The high rates of wealth inequality cause the growing financial crisis to persist, lower socio-economic mobility, increase national poverty, and have adverse effects on health and well being. 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 regarding income inequality. In the latest consensus of wealth distribution, the top one percent of Americans owned thirty five percent of the nations private wealth, and the top ten percent took home about fifty percent of all income in 2012. This figure is greater than the bottom 90 percent combined. The question commonly asked concerning this matter: How and why is this becoming so quickly unequal is to be examined. First, we must explain what is meant by the term “wealth.” Wealth is the collection of the assets people own. This includes homes, stocks, savings for pension, and bank accounts, minus all existing debts. The main issue regarding wealth inequality is income inequality. Income equality has grown increasingly in the past 30 years....
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...America’s Growing Inequality While some dispute that inequality helps people find new approaches of creating income, others evaluate the existing inequality to historical facts. In line with to inequality, wealth can be described as the total of an individual’s assets minus liabilities. Here assets include stocks and bond, vehicles, checking and savings accounts, homes that people own or real estate. In contrast, liabilities include car loans; mortgages and bills individuals need to pay. From these explanations, it is prudent to say that such a wealth gap exists. In some parts of America, while others are lavished it is true to say that some people go without basic supplies. Statistics illustrates that 12.8 percent of riches are controlled...
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...Occupy Wall Street Movement Business Ethics 309 Discuss the moral and economic implications involved in the movement. September 17, 2011 is the day the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City. The main issues include social and economic inequality, greed, corruption and the undue influence of corporations on government according to The New York Times. The mix of moral foundations based on ideas from the anthropologist Richard Shweder, outline six clusters of moral concern - care, fairness, liberty, loyalty, authority, or sanctity. OWS main moral issues include: fairness, care, and liberty. Fairness – the rich (the “1” percent) got rich by taking without giving. OWS protesters viewed the rich as cheaters who exploited their way to the top. They further suggested that the taxpayers had to bail them out after they crashed the economy. Care and liberty were the next moral foundations at OWS (Haidt, 2011). Analyze each of the implications identified above against the utilitarian, Kantian, and virtue ethics to determine which theory best applies to the movement. Utilitarian looks at consequences, or the greatest good for the greatest number. Utilitarianism is generally held to be the view that morally right action is the action that produces the most good. We believe that we are all individuals and that society is only the net result of our individual choices. The sociologist Emile Durkheim understood that utilitarianism is...
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...Social stratification exists in America because the wealth and power belongs to a small portion of the population. Wealthy people possess an enormous amount of power over the political system and are held in high esteem by our society. There is a general feeling that those who are wealthy and powerful are superior to the average person. Social stratification involves not only socio-economic inequality, but the belief system held by people in America. A stratified society exists when there is an unequal distribution of wealth, power and prestige. In American society, political power and wealth are not distributed equally (Johnson, 1996). Paul Krugman is an economist and author of the book, 'The Spiral of Inequality' (1996). Krugman believes corporate greed, the decline of organized labor and changes in the way goods are produced are the causes of the growing social and economic inequality in the United States (Anderson, 2003). There is an unspoken general agreement in America that certain occupations deserve higher wages and more respect. Professions, such as physicians, lawyers, athletes and actors, are held in high esteem, whereas custodians, waitresses and trash collectors are considered professions that are not worthy of respect or praise and require minimal skill or intelligence. America most definitely needs skilled physicians and lawyers, but it also needs custodians, trash collectors and others who perform much needed tasks in order for society to thrive and function...
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... April 29, 2012 A major social problem in America today is its inequality of the distribution of income. "Income inequality refers to the gap between the rich and the poor. The United States has the most unequal income distribution in the industrialized world, and it is growing at a faster rate than any other industrialized country" Bernard Sanders (1997). What's really going on with the economy? - Unequal distribution of wealth and income. [ONLINE] Available at: www.usatoday.com. [Last Accessed 04/27/2012]. Society defines this social issue as the disparity between the few at the very top of the income ladder, and the many at the bottom. Recently, the Occupy Movement has defined this problem has fight between the 1% and the 99%. The social classes that are most impacted by this disparity pretty much cover the spectrum as we are all affected. The most latent effects are probably found in the poor, in single-mothers, and in the minority classes. Those are the classes that have the least amount of economic and social power at the onset. A persons clothing, housing and educational opportunities usually depend on their class, but that is a direct reflection of their income. A person does not gain any class or power without their income being taken into consideration. The only problem is, is that there is also class inequality, which further prohibits people to earn an equal income. Income inequalities in a society are a source of a variety of social...
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...Introduction In America, the wealth gap between the rich and the poor has undoubtedly increased over the years. Most Americans do not doubt the presence of this gap, but not all believe it is an issue that impairs our economy. Scholars from the Intelligence Squared U.S. debate argue over whether the American dream of upward mobility is hindered by our economy’s disproportionate income distribution. Based on statistical evidence and facts from the arguments, it is clear that income inequality does, in fact, impair the American dream of upward mobility. Analysis According to a census performed in 2015 by the U.S. Census Bureau, America has experienced economic growth in regards to national income. Though this sounds like a factor that would...
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...Well, Uncle Zack it is true enough that inequality has always existed in American, but it is not inevitable or natural and it can be changed. Inequality has changed over time. From slavery to separate but equal, inequality has existed and was written as laws that facilitated and helped inequality to thrive. The concept of inequality can be depicted in many areas, freed black famers could not own land and had to rent land from white owners. When the social security program was first implemented it denied agricultural workers who were mostly black the ability to benefit from the program. Currently in America even with similar education levels minorities typically earn less than whites and home ownership, which is a crucial means by which...
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...Wealth inequality was not something that occurred overnight. It established itself over several decades of mistreatment of immigrants by people from the west, and people of power from the west supporting and “okaying” this mistreatment. This is how inequality is produced. Immigrants, however, were not the only ones being mistreated, women of every social class and race were also regarded in this way. People of power in the west have always been men. In this type of atmosphere where masculinity thrives, immigrants are seen as naive and women are inferior and weak compared to men. They made these perceptions of specific groups as acceptable in society, and used these perceptions to manipulate these groups into cheap labor that they can profit...
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