Income Inequality and Society

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Income Inequality’s affect on Society Income inequality is on the rise and it is evident in most cities throughout the United States. There are individuals with six to seven figure incomes and then there are individuals whose income is just enough to get by. The middle class is not as prominent as the upper and lower class. This should be the other way around. There should not be so many cities with very wealthy neighborhoods right next door to low class, rundown neighborhoods, with little middle class households. Digging deeper, 47.6% of the money in the United States belongs to individuals that receive $98,200 or more (“Distribution of U.S. family income”, 101). The middle class should be much more noticeable with the upper and lower classes being a little more rare. The middle class can be restored in order to lessen the income gap and therefore create a more perfect utopia. The income gap is actually not staying where it is or getting smaller, it is growing. For this reason the middle class can be grown to decrease the income gap. At a local level the inequality grew from ‘07-’12 mainly from the poor getting poorer, not the rich getting richer (“US Income Inequality”). Some people might wonder, if this is true only at a local level, then how is income inequality growing nationally? To answer this question, rich people are gaining even more wealth at a national level while people that are poor are falling deeper into poverty at a local level (“US Income inequality”). According to Robert Lieberman, during 2009 the income of the top 5% families went up while everyone elses’ incomes plummeted, on average. Counteracting that, during the recession the wealthiest got even more wealthy. He also mentioned that the total incom... ... middle of paper ... ...ks Cited Barber, Elizabeth. "Income Inequality: Among US Cities, Bigger Ones Are More Unequal (+video)." The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor, 20 Feb. 2014. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. "Distribution of U.S. Family Income." World Book 2008. 2008. Print. Lieberman, Robert C. "Why the Rich Are Getting Richer: American Politics and the Second Gilded Age." Foreign Affairs Jan.-Feb. 2011: 154. Global Issues In Context. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. Maney, Kevin. "The Internet Is Killing the Middle Class." Newsweek 4 Oct. 2013: 1. General Reference Center GOLD. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. Ryan, Bill. "The Declining Middle Class and Its Jobs." New Hampshire Business Review Business Advice. N.p., 23 Aug. 2013. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. "US Income Inequality: Gap between Rich, Poor Growing - Study." TurkishWeekly.net. The Journal of Turkish Weekly, 24 Feb. 2014. Web. 26 Feb. 2014.

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