Income Equality in the United States? Think Again

Where do you think the United States ranks against other developed nations when it comes to income inequality? Most people think we are up in the top 5 after all we are the richest nation on the planet right? Now what would you say if I told you that America is dead last; Furthermore, that the top 400 earners in America have more wealth then 150 million of the poorest combined. The United States ranks 64th in the world on income inequality (i.e., 63 nations are more equal than the U.S.)(Rogow 15). Although there are people and organizations that strongly believe the government shouldn’t raise the minimum wage because it will cause a higher unemployment rate, we must raise the minimum wage now to create more jobs, help families across the country that are sinking deeper and deeper into debt, and fix the broken tax code that is taking so much money from the poor and so little from the rich.

It has long been thought by many that wealthy Americans are the job creators. It’s said that the more money they have the more they can spend, and the more businesses they can start up and hire employes. But this is a misconception because it is the middle class that drives the United States economy. The United State’s economy is a consumer economy 70% to be exact(Rogow 16) but how much stuff does a multimillionaire consume? They may buy a few cars and a couple of houses but the vast majority of the time very wealthy people do not buy multiples of the same things that an average person would buy. Instead they save and invest their vast amounts of money often this money leaves the country and ends up in off shore tax havens instead of circulating through the American economy. Nick Hanauer who was one of the first investors in amazon.com and a mu...

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...mpromised by multimillion dollar campaign contributions. America as a nation is wealthier then ever, yet the middle class is in very real danger of disappearing, and I fear that if nothing is done millions and millions of Americans will live in poverty without the chance to work themselves out of it, and that is unacceptable.

Works Cited

Hassett, Kevin A., and Michael R. Strain. "Why we shouldn't raise the minimum wage." American enterprise Institute. American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 10 Mar. 2013. Web. 30 Apr. 2014. .

Rogow, Faith. "INEQUALITY FOR ALL Discussion Guid." InequalityforAll.com. Ed. Stephanie Bleyer. Inequality for All, LLC., 2013. Web. 30 Apr. 2014. .