Argumentative Essay On Income Inequality

Income inequality has been on the rise since the 1970s, however, it is a more pertinent problem now than it has been ever before. Despite evidence that cutting income inequality would improve the efficiency of the economy, the government shows a lack of understanding of that and continues to allow that inequality to increase. The disparity in income has become so pronounced that the top ten percent of Americans make more than nine times the income than the bottom 90 percent. This statistic has compounded over the years, and shows no signs of slowing down. The article posits that without reforms and changes, there won’t be lasting solutions for the middle and lower classes to rise above their current means.

The capitalist system of old is no

The system as it functions now does not operate in this way. Capitalism now only benefits “capitalists.” The owners and operators of huge corporations and banks see the most profit for their goods and services. The rest of the population is merely employees now. Most of the capital that the average American owns is tied up in their housing. This outsourcing of manufacturing creates a twofold problem for the US economy. Firstly, the GDP falls significantly because there are fewer products made in the US. Over the last ten years, the US has important billions of dollars more than it has exported. This trade deficit translates to a reduction in income from industry. And as more and more corporations move their manufacturing overseas, less and less Americans have viable options for employment. As this deficit has increased, the government has had to borrow money in order to protect the businesses that are too big to collapse. As more industries find ways to increase the profit margin for themselves and their owners, the economy as a whole and the workers suffer. With aspects such as pollution, tax evasion, fraud, waste,

The less a worker makes, the less they have to save and invest with. However, more than two-thirds of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. The richest one percent of Americans commands more than 40% of the total wealth of the United States. The bottom 80%, which includes upper middle class and everyone below, only owns around 7% of the nation’s total wealth. Wealth inevitably begets wealth. Once someone has wealth, it generates its own wealth. Interest and dividends that are added to that wealth, along with the selling of assets, are mostly passed down through generations, becoming larger and larger over time. As a result, the system is disproportionally stacked against low-income families, especially those of color. Low income families cannot afford or save enough to buy a home so they usually are forced to rent. For families of color though, the disadvantage is much steeper. In fact, the average net worth of a white family is around ten times as much as a colored family. They are far less likely to inherit any wealth through generations and face even worse obstacles unjustly placed upon them, such as discriminatory policies that keep them from owning houses and the wage gap between white and colored workers who occupy the same job. Over time, the level of poverty compound and the level of poverty becomes a system that becomes harder and harder to break out of. The government does try to make things