The Wealth and Income Gap Situation
The issues with the wealth and income gap between the rich and poor in the United
States are troubling to say the least. In the article Justice, Inequality, and the Poor it says this
fall the Census Bureau reported that 46 million Americans (15% of the population) were living
below the poverty line. Some have become obsessed with inequality that it is necessary to
have. Certain people would say there are more opportunities with the wealthy class. In some
cases that may be true, wealthier people tend to know more people or associate with more
people are in the higher class of wealthy people. There are so many levels in the class we label
“rich”, yet there is just the “poor”. People argue the term equality, because the Declaration of
Independence states “all men are created equal” but can you argue that statement with
Americans Wealth. There are people that have differences and justice requires that those
differences are recognized so where it is just to treat all people the same it is unjust to treat
those people with differences the same. The saying “the apple does not fall far from the tree”
really describes a lot of the wealth gap because if your parents are wealthy usually there
offspring’s grow up wealthy and have more opportunities than the families that have grown up
in the “poor” class.
In another article there were two graphs one showing the percents for the poor and rich
receiving a 4-year degree. The poor is about 8 percent and the rich is 55 percent. When people
talk about the rich having better opportunities then the poor this really shows it. For instances
there is a young girl about 19 she has come from a poor family and she received grants to be
able to go to school, she got half way through the semester and stopped going to class. Now
why she didn’t take advantage of the grants is not known but she will end up like her family.
The other graph in this article shows life expectancy in years between the rich and poor. The
poor expect to live to about 74 years old and the rich expect to live to 79. Even by looking at
this you could get an idea that obviously if you have money you will have a roof over your head,
food, and money to take care of medical problems so you would live longer. In the article it
says, “The 400 richest people in the United States have more wealth than the 150 million put
together” which is amazing to think about. It is quite frightening to say the least.
The inequality hurts the poor Americans, with the paychecks continually getting smaller
its just getting worse. With the poor becoming more and more poor their life expectancy is
becoming lower and lower, while the rich is continuing to grow. The middle class is becoming
non-existent and some may say that it is because the middle class people tend to spend their
money more than the rich. Others say that the rich are making more money then the middle
class so it is shrinking it to just people that are poor. Should America do something about
inequality? Yes most definitely, but what can be done? What is the solution to getting millions
of people better jobs that pay more, there really isn’t one. It takes money to make money. A
better job may require a college degree; and a college degree costs money. Looking at another
article it shows the average income for the top 1 percent and that is over one million dollars.
The wealth of the top 1 percent is over 15 million dollars. Now looking at the bottom 40
percent the income is just over 17 thousand and the wealth is almost negative 15 thousand.
There has got to be a way to create more jobs for the lower class, we don’t want our country
turning into a third world country.
Now is the wealth and income gap a healthy part of capitalism? There could be so many
different answers for this but overall the poor are just getting deeper in debt and the rich are
continuing to do well for themselves. Does that seem like a healthy system to have? No, sure
there will be certain people who do better off then others and simply earn more money maybe
from the family they came from or the profession they choose but there should be some help
towards those who are simply just stuck in the lower class. Yes there should be a balance
between the rich and the poor but there should also be middle and that is going to be gone.
There may not be very many solutions to this problem but something definitely needs to be
done about it. People should not be living so poorly especially when there are people with so
much money they don’t know what to do with it. The issues with the wealth and income gap
between the rich and the poor are over whelming, but sooner or later something needs to be
done about it.
Citation
Hargreaves, Steve. "How Income Inequality Hurts America." CNNMoney. Cable News
Network, 25 Sept. 2013. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.
"Justice, Inequality, and the Poor Publications National Affairs." Justice, Inequality, and
the Poor Publications National Affairs. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2013.
"Who Rules America: Wealth, Income, and Power." Who Rules America: Wealth,
Income, and Power. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.