How Does Stiiglitz Criticize The Economy In 'Of The 1 %'

766 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The role of income in inequality of distribution of wealth in america

In the essay, “Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%” by Joseph E. Stiglitz, Stiglitz criticizes the wealthy, and how the economy protects them. He talks about how the one percent of Americans that are wealthy own everything. The government has reduced taxes for those wealthy people, but not working Americans that are poor. The government is giving more money to the wealthy, while taking opportunities from the less-educated. Everyone in America is not equal in society. America has changed dramatically. America has went from a society that everyone worked hard to earn money to an economy that is predictable. The rich know they will stay rich and their legacy will continue. The poor knows their hard working and still struggling legacy will continue. …show more content…

The top Americans occasionally see their fortune rise as the lower Americans’ income enter a slump (Stiglitz 746). Stiglitz declares that one percent of upper-class Americans’ capital develops from the consent of the government. Inequality in opportunity leads to the middle and lower-class’ income decline (Stiglitz 748). If average Americans are not flourishing in society, it will be difficult to make money in the future. Satisfying jobs are difficult to come by because Americans cannot find ones that maintain financial stability. No matter how much wealthy people complain about the government, it is not going to reduce their income or regulate their spending (Stiglitz 748). Unbalanced distribution of wealth forms several reductions for the general public (Stiglitz 747). Cuts on significant areas, such as education and technology, has taken a toll. The top Americans have so much money that they could pay for anything themselves. America’s economy has manipulated people’s talents in the workplace (Stiglitz …show more content…

Major enterprises create new technologies that do not require industries or factories. As a result, citizens are struggling to find work due to advanced technology. In addition, the rich one percent enjoy when things benefit them the most (Stiglitz 748). Citizens with good fortune get most of the money from reduced taxes, which is similar to an income boost. Stiglitz mentions tax reductions are illustrated as wealthy people’s main source of staying rich for a long period of time (Stiglitz 748). A decline in unions contribute to American inequality (Stiglitz 748). Workers are unable to gain economic equality without higher authorities to represent them and voice their opinions. Unions that represent nearly forty percent of workers currently only represent a little over ten percent (Stiglitz 748). Rich people stay wealthy while several working Americans struggle earning capital and searching for a stable

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of Class In America By Gregory Mantsios

    607 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to Gregory Mantsios many American people believed that the classes in the United States were irrelevant, that we equally reside(ed) in a middle class nation, that we were all getting richer, and that everyone has an opportunity to succeed in life. But what many believed, was far from the truth. In reality the middle class of the United States receives a very small amount of the nation's wealth, and sixty percent of America's population receives less than 6 percent of the nation's wealth, while the top 1 percent of the American population receives 34 percent of the total national wealth. In the article Class in America ( 2009), written by Gregory Mantsios informs us that there are some huge differences that exist between the classes of America, especially the wealthy and the poor. After

    Read More

  • Economic Inequality - Taking Sides Article

    724 Words  | 2 Pages

    Briefly state the main idea of this article: The main idea of this article is that economic inequality has steadily risen in the United States between the richest people and the poorest people. And this inequality affects the people in more ways than buying power; it also affects education, life expectancy, living conditions and possibly happiness. Another idea that he brought up was that the American government tends to give less help to the unemployed than other rich countries.

    Read More

  • Stigliz's Rhetorical Analysis Essay

    1049 Words  | 3 Pages

    Social inequality has been around for as a long as history can recall. However, according to Joseph Stigliz, it was created by us and did not just appear. As we delve into the history of social inequality, several things stand out to the great economist Joseph stiglitz. In order for Stigliz to portray how inequality is alive today, he uses primarily the rhetorical analysis technique logos and a little ethos to explain how rent seeking causes inequality in many countries including our own.

    Read More

  • Income Inequality in the United States

    795 Words  | 2 Pages

    The highest earning fifth of U.S. families earned 59.1% of all income, while the richest earned 88.9% of all wealth. A big gap between the rich and poor is often associated with low social mobility, which contradicts the American ideal of equal opportunity. Levels of income inequality are higher than they have been in almost a century, the top one percent has a share of the national income of over 20 percent (Wilhelm). There are a variety of factors that influence income inequality, a few of which will be discussed in this paper. Rising income inequality is caused by differences in life expectancy, rapidly increases in the incomes of the top 5 percent, social trends, and shifts in the global economy.

    Read More

  • Who Rules America: Wealth Distribution

    616 Words  | 2 Pages

    Time and time again we hear politicians and office holders preach the need for a powerful middle-class. You may then be surprised to hear that “about 82% of America’s net worth belongs to the top 20%, the next 80% of people only own about 18% of America’s wealth” (UCSC). Some may argue that this disproportion is the beauty of capitalism, the chance to create an empire. I argue that the proportions are simply unfair. Why is it that “ the average CEO makes 350X as much as his/her employee” (UCSC)?

    Read More

  • Wealth Inequality In America Essay

    1109 Words  | 3 Pages

    Inside of this video, this guy really targets an issue nobody has really been presented. He shows charts that talk about how we Americans think our wealth is distributed. We think distribution is doing alright. Americans think that the bottom 40% is getting a bit of money. They also believe that the middle class is doing reasonably well. Unfortunately, that is not the case. In the video, he breaks it down a little bit getter. He shows a graph that shows how money is actually being distributed. The poorest of poor don 't even register on the poverty line. The middle class is barely making it. And then there is this huge difference between "the rich" and the poor. It is proven that the 1% of America has 40% of the entire nation 's wealth ("Wealth Inequality in America."). The bottom 80% of America only share 7% of the nation 's wealth among themselves. The top 1% has 50% of the stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. The bottom 50% of Americans only own 0.5% ("Wealth Inequality in America."). The poor is not just getting by but they are scraping and fighting to get by. Now that it is clear that there is a lot of poor people in America, it is important to figure out how to fix

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Capitalism In Today's Society

    1508 Words  | 4 Pages

    Divisions within the social stratum is a characteristic of societies in various cultures and has been present throughout history. During the middle ages, the medieval feudal system prevailed, characterized by kings and queens reigning over the peasantry. Similarly, in today’s society, corporate feudalism, otherwise known as Capitalism, consists of wealthy elites dominating over the working poor. Class divisions became most evident during America’s Gilded Age and Progressive era, a period in time in which the rich became richer via exploitation of the fruits of labor that the poor persistently toiled to earn. As a result, many Americans grew compelled to ask the question on everyone’s mind: what do the rich owe the poor? According to wealthy

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Paul Krugman's 'Confronting Inequality'

    758 Words  | 2 Pages

        In Confronting Inequality, Paul Krugman discusses the cost of inequality and possible solutions. Krugman argues to say that it is a fantasy to believe the rich live just like the middle class. Then, he goes into detail about how middle class families struggle to try to give their children a better life and how education plays a factor in children’s future lives. For example, children’s ability to move into higher education could be affected by their parents economic status. Also, He discusses how politicians play a role in the inequality, because most of politicians are in the upper economic class. Finally, Krugman says how we could possibly have solutions to these various inequalities, but how America won’t get

    Read More

  • Persuasive Speech On Affordable Housing

    1064 Words  | 3 Pages

    While the the 1%, are secured, no one is addressing the rest of the people. As the economy flourishes, housing, higher education and health care, and child care increases with it to the point where 30 percent of a person’s income goes towards housing. People are finding it impossible to purchase a house with their middle class incomes. People begin to fall out of the once stable middle class because too much is needed to be sacrificed in order to live in a stable home. In the shrinking middle class, “40% or more of the residents live below the poverty

    Read More

  • Income Inequality

    939 Words  | 2 Pages

    Income inequality has affected American citizens ever since the American Dream came to existence. The American Dream is centered around the concept of working hard and earning enough money to support a family, own a home, send children to college, and invest for retirement. Economic gains in income are one of the only possible ways to achieve enough wealth to fulfill the dream. Unfortunately, many people cannot achieve this dream due to low income. Income inequality refers to the uneven distribution of income and wealth between the social classes of American citizens. The United States has often experienced a rise in inequality as the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, increasing the unstable gap between the two classes. The income gap in America has been increasing steadily since the late 1970’s, and has now reached historic highs not seen since the 1920’s (Desilver). UC Berkeley economics professor, Emmanuel Saez conducted extensive research on past and present income inequality statistics and published them in his report “Striking it Richer.” Saez claims that changes in technology, tax policies, labor unions, corporate benefits, and social norms have caused income inequality. He stands to advocate a change in American economic policies that will help close this inequality gap and considers institutional and tax reforms that should be developed to counter it. Although Saez’s provides legitimate causes of income inequality, I highly disagree with the thought of making changes to end income inequality. In any diverse economic environment, income inequality will exist due to the rise of some economically successful people and the further development of factors that push people into poverty. I believe income inequality e...

    Read More

  • Analysis: 'Play Spent'

    1449 Words  | 3 Pages

    The gap in wealth between the rich and the poor continues to grow larger, as productivity increases but wages remain the same. There were changes in the tax structure that gave the wealthy tax breaks, such as only taxing for social security within the first $113,700 of income in a year. For CEOs this tax was paid off almost immediately. Free trade treaties broke barriers to trade and resulted in outsourcing and lower wages for workers. In “Job on the Line” by William Adler, a worker named Mollie James lost her job when the factory moved to Mexico. “The job in which Mollie James once took great pride, the job that both fostered and repaid her loyalty by enabling her to rise above humble beginnings and provide for her family – that job does not now pay Balbina Duque a wage sufficient to live on” (489). When Balbina started working she was only making 65 cents an hour. Another huge issue lies in the minimum wage. In 2007, the minimum wage was only 51% of the living wage in America. How can a person live 51% of a life? Especially when cuts were being made in anti-poverty and welfare programs that were intended to get people on their feet. Now, it seems that the system keeps people down, as they try to earn more but their benefits are taken away faster than they can earn. Even when workers tried to get together to help themselves they were thrown

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Democratic Socialism

    1245 Words  | 3 Pages

    The United States should pride itself for having one of the largest middle classes in the world. With this being said, it should be known that the middle class in the United States is shrinking. “While a majority of citizens in the middle and lower class feel the effects of debt in United States, there is no doubt the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer” (Peel 206). The

    Read More

  • Why The Rich Are Getting Richer And The Poor, Poorer Essay

    917 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Why the Rich are getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer” written by Robert Reich, describes as the title says, why the rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer. In Reich’s essay he delves into numerous reasons and gives examples of each. It makes one wonder if the world will continue on the path of complete economic separation between the rich and the poor.

    Read More

  • Why The Rich Are Getting Richer And The Poor Poorer Analysis

    1067 Words  | 3 Pages

    The entire world attempts to make a better life for themselves; however, too often the majority of the people of a country will suffer more from their technology than benefit from them. As technology increases the wealth distribution in the United States has shifted from all having relatively equal wealth to the rich becoming even more rich than everyone else. Since the 1970’s the wealthy have gained more wealth while the lower and middle class have begun to suffer shown by “…the share of total household wealth owned by the top 0.1 percent increasing to 22 percent in 2012 from 7 percent in the late 1970s” (Saez, & Zucman, 2014, Np). Robert Reich in “Why the Rich are Getting Richer and the Poor Poorer,” discusses the inequality that technology

    Read More

  • Advantages And Disadvantages Of The American Dream

    914 Words  | 2 Pages

    Money is an essential part of life where every people can satisfy whatever they need and every person in America has a chance to find a job. However, some of the people in the country wanted to go on with their life freely by being a part of a welfare. Furthermore, distribution of wealth is a huge demand of every citizen. Everyone today is trying to look down for every people in the lower class, as they did not give any benefit to the country, waiting for the benefits that they will receive from the government. For instance, when most lower class people have gone through a financial crisis due to overspending, insufficient fund or pay for their work to support themselves and/or their family. The example shows that lower class people made the economy of the country unstable, however, the middle class and the higher class is at fault as well. Furthermore, even though the benefit of that the lower class received is from the middle class, the middle class as well benefits from the higher class. To sum up, every class is at fault towards giving the country’s economy a positive

    Read More

More about How Does Stiiglitz Criticize The Economy In 'Of The 1 %'

Open Document