Joseph Stiiglitz Wealth Equality

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In his essay “Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%”, Joseph Stiglitz, an American economist who won the 2001 Nobel Prize in economics, speaks about a problem that has been developing in America for years: the inequality gap of wealth. Stiglitz’s essay essentially goes into detail about how the problem of financial inequality is being neglected by the groups that the problem has the greatest impact on, the lower class and the middle class. Stiglitz also provides statistics to illustrate how the wealth distribution has changed from 25 years ago to modern day. Moreover Stiglitz mentions that the wealth gap alienating American society, and how the concentration of wealth is directed causes worse conditions to arise in the lower and middle classes. …show more content…

Stiglitz makes a bold statement saying, “America’s inequality distorts our society in every conceivable way.” (Stiglitz 750) this corresponds with the idea that the gap in wealth alienates society. In addition to supporting the previous point about taxes and the common welfare, with the diversity being forged the wealthy have a more difficult time empathizing with the groups of people that wealthier folks started out as. The wealthy experience “the erosion of our sense of identity” (Stiglitz 751), which in turn induces them to care less about the conditions of the labor workers. The actions rich folks undergo afterward, “undermines what used to be viewed as the ‘core’ labor rights,” (Stiglitz 751), the actions typically include spending less money on health, environmental, and safety conditions in their businesses. Historically, actions such as these have been opposed by dint of protest; this goes with the purpose of having the lower and middle classes take action against the inequality of wealth in America. Furthermore Stiglitz also points out how the actions of the wealthy have caused

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