Why The Rich Are Getting Poorer Analysis

Boats in the U.S Economy As the title suggests, Reich's essay “Why the Rich are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer” explains the reason behind the growing discrepancy between the wealthy and the poor. To do so, he uses a metaphor of three boats in which one floating and others are sinking. But what causes one group to stay afloat, while the others drown? According to Reich, regardless of what one person's specific job is, his or her job can be simplified to fit into one of three categories: producers, in-person servers, and symbolic analysts. Depending on the category the person falls into, their job holds a specific purpose and if that purpose is no longer necessary to the U.S economy, that person, along with everyone else in that category, will drown. For the most part, his essay is still relevant to today's economy. The first group Reich discusses are the producers, which consists mainly of factory workers. Of the three different groups, they are the ones that are sinking most

Producers are doomed to fail, in-person servers will fail eventually, and symbolic analysts will be the only ones left afloat. However, it is important to note that the characteristic that largely differentiates the producers from the in-person servers and the symbolic analysts from the other two groups is education and skill level. The in-person service jobs, especially those on the higher end of the pay scale, tend to require either more education or more skill than those in the producer field. The same applies when comparing symbolic analysts to in-person servers. Therefore, so long as people get an education, they have the potential to end up on the floating boat. In addition, the producer group encompasses a very specific occupation, but the other two groups encompass a large variety of jobs which means there is a much higher chance of gaining a profession that is either sinking slowly or not sinking at