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Inequality for All Inequality is a polarizing topic in the world. Some countries have huge differences in their level of life and income throughout their social classes. Many of them belong to the third world, but others represent the developed section of the world. One of these countries is the United States, which has held the title of the best economy in the world in terms of GDP for several years. The United States is the country with the highest amount of income inequality among developed country. However, this country still has hope. There are righteous human beings who fight for the rights of the people of the United States. One of them is Robert Reich. In his movie Inequality for All, Reich extensively approaches the problem of income inequality and its cause, explains its impact in the economy throughout the years, and gives several approaches to solve this problem. The film defines income inequality by measuring the earnings of people at the top one percent of the population versus the workers of the middle class. With that specific idea, Reich creates a graph never seen before. It reflected income inequality from 1920 to 2010. The result obtained was spectacular. The graph resembled a suspension bridge where the peak years of inequality were 1930 and 2007, the two years where the U.S economy experienced the Great …show more content…
One reason that Robert gave to this ascending trend was the flattening of wages compared to the rise of productivity, which began in the late 1970s. This sudden halt in grow of wages was mainly due to “globalization” and “technology”. Machines were replacing workers and money was invested more in the outer world than in the country. The example of the IPhone was one of the best illustration of this problem since the majority of his student and including me were absolutely unaware of the footprint of the money made from these phones
Both Sklar and the Economist offer suggestions to improve the inequality in America, but unfortunately the inequality continues to grow. Sklar’s use of detailed facts about the richest Americans, the poorest Americans and her discussion of the impact on society add clarity to the Economist’s argument that the American dream is broken due to the inequality in America. Until the American government starts to make changes, the problem of inequality will continue to grow.
In the documentary “inequality for all”, Robert Reich examines the overall state of inequality in America, and explains the intricate processes involved in the economy, which determines the distribution of wealth, and how both the middle and upper classes utilize it. During the introduction of the documentary, Reich states “I like having a Mini Cooper. I sort of identify with it…. We are sort of together, facing the rest of the world”. Although Reich is making a comparison between the size of his car and himself, the overall inference of this quote refers to the immense scale of the American economy. In this sense, Reich acknowledges that he, and many other Americans, are unequal to upper class residents; although, the inequality itself isn’t labeled as a negative consequence. In fact, Reich acknowledges that “some inequality is just inevitable”, meaning that inequality within an economy is an intended consequence of American capitalism which, if done correctly, can create prosperity for any economic class. Instead of seeing inequality as either black or white, Reich examines the different effects of inequality at different magnitudes, and asks whether inequality can be a problem, and if so, when it becomes one. To do
Throughout the years, “ U.S income inequality has been increasing steadily since the 1970s and now has reached levels not seen since 1928” (Source A).
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.
Wilhelm, Heather “The Great Income Inequality Sham” Real Clear Politics. May 2013. Web. 29 Apr 2014.
In the United States there are four social classes : the upper class, the middle class, the working class, and the lower class. Of these four classes the most inequality exists between the upper class and the lower class. This inequality can be seen in the incomes that the two classes earn. During the period 1979 through the present , the growth in income has disproportionately grown.The bottom sixty percent of the US population actually saw their real income decrease in 1990 dollars. The next 20% saw medium gains. The top twenty percent saw their income increase 18%. The wealthiest one percent saw their incomes rise drastically over 80%. As reported in the 1997 Center on Budget's analysis , the wealthiest one percent of Americans ( 2.6 million people) received as much after-tax income in 1994 as the bottom 35 percent of the population combined (88 million people). But in 1977 the bottom 35 percent had about twice as much after tax income as the top one percent. These statistics further show the disproportional income growth among the social classes. The gr...
Between the end of World War II and the late 1970s, income inequality in the U.S. was reduced; but since 1970s, the situation with wealth distribution has changed. Data from tax returns in 1976 show that the top 1 percent of households received 8.9 percent of all pre-tax income. In 2008, the top 1 percent’s share had more than doubled to 21.0 percent.
Income inequality in the United States, as of 2007, has reached levels not seen since 1928. In 1928, the top one percent received nearly 24% of all income within the United States (Volscho & Kelly, 2012). This percentage fell to nearly nine percent in 1975, but has risen to 23.5% as of 2007 (Volscho & Kelly, 2012). Meanwhile, in 2007 (see
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
In Rousseau’s book “A Discourse On Inequality”, he looks into the question of where the general inequality amongst men came from. Inequality exists economically, structurally, amongst different generations, genders, races, and in almost all other areas of society. However, Rousseau considers that there are really two categories of inequality. The first is called Natural/Physical, it occurs as an affect of nature. It includes inequalities of age,, health, bodily strength, and the qualities of the mind and soul. The second may be called Moral/Political inequality, this basically occurs through the consent of men. This consists of the privileges one group may have over another, such as the rich over the poor.
Inequality as previously mentioned is a subject that gets debated when brought up and in any debate there is two sides. In class we have discussed both side of the story of inequality, and it has give me a better perspectives of income inequality. When discussion income inequality, we brought up the concept of the economic pie in which states that the economic pie is a reference to the way income gets distributed among the lower, middle, and higher class of America. So the concept of the economic pie states that the rich is getting richer, so they are
Sutter, John. “What is income inequality, anyway?” CNN. 29 Oct. 2013. Web. 13 Feb. 2014.
If I had to describe a moment from INEQUALITY FOR ALL that is really sticking with you – maybe you found it particularly inspiring or particularly troubling it would be the statement made by Robert Reich, “Of all developed nations the U.S. has the most unequal distribution of income.” What was it about that moment that is so memorable? He also states, “the richest 400 people in America have more wealth then the bottom 50 million of us put together.”
Economics of Reich “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. One very important factor Reich examines in his essay is that large corporations are always trying to find the edge, whether that is new technology or cheaper wages. One may ask, how does that affect me?
Income inequality continues to increase in today’s world, especially in the United States. Income inequality means the unequal distribution between individuals’ assets, wealth, or income. In the Twilight of the Elites, Christopher Hayes, a liberal journalist, states the inequality gap between the rich and the poor are increasing widening, and there need to have things done - tax the rich, provide better education - in order to shortening the inequality gap. America is a meritocratic country, which means that everybody has equal opportunity to be successful regardless of their class privileges or wealth. However, equality of opportunity does not equal equality of outcomes. People are having more opportunities to find a better job, but their incomes are a lot less compared to the top ten percent rich people. In this way, the poor people will never climb up the ladder to high status and become millionaires. Therefore, the government needs to increase all the tax rates on rich people in order to reduce income inequality.