Capitalism: Wealth Disparity and Future Consequences

Capitalism, by definition is a good thing. It allows an individual the freedom of controlling their economic destiny. One can open a business, control its prices, and expenditure in which the business either succeeds or fails in proportion to how well it is making profits. The top 1% has taken advantage of it fully and has accumulated vast amounts of wealth and prestige. Although, as shown by this video their profits are rising exponentially while the rest fall behind. It is an interesting topic that is important today and the economy’s future. Do we need to regulate the amount of wealth? Is there a need of taxation to balance this difference? According to the rising percentages, what will happen when big corporate businesses control most of the wealth? These are some questions that can be extrapolated from what’s given.

The reason why is that according to Jeffrey Sachs, the next presidential election is estimated to be ten billion dollars (CNN). This means that only people with vast amounts of wealth can control our political atmosphere. Through personal funding or corporate support, the wealthy have a strong position in determining the outcomes of political elections. This notion is validated by Sach’s in whom he states, “our public policies have been owned by the rich in many countries and pushed their wealth even higher” (CNN). Conflict theory best fits this because it is when the elite dictates terms of the larger masses (New Encyclopedia). Because the wealthy elite hold most of the wealth, laborers must sell their services in order to obtain an income. According to Karl Marx, this is how society is based and deviance with stem from this (Giddens et al.). This sense of economic control is exactly what conflict theory