Nicolle Wiaderny
Politics and Government
April 23, 2012
The Rich and Poverty Gap
America has tremendous gap pertaining the rich and the poor population. This issue
arises constantly in people’s daily lives, news, magazines, books, etc. There are various
concerns and sides to this particular issue, as some people are completely okay with the gap
and others think it should be equally distributed. Lastly there is another general group that is
utterly against poverty inside our country. With many perspectives towards how wealth is
distributed it is time to choose one and focus on that particular idea.
Most of American citizens are having a problem with the gap because the percentages
and statistics of who owns what are outstanding! In a Time Magazine article What Class Divide?
Rich and Poor, Red and Blue Agree on Wealth Distribution states that top one fifth control 84%
of all wealth, where the bottom fifth only control 0.1% of wealth. And what is interesting is that
in this article there was a study that was conducted about the opinions of the America citizens.
In this study there was a choice of having the distribution to all fifths equally, the US model and
statistics mention above, or a Sweden model of the top fifth having control of 34% of wealth
and the bottom fifth controlling 11% of wealth. Fifty-five hundred people took that study
without knowing which countries the model was representing and the outcome showed that
the majority of Americans would like to distribute wealth as the Swedish residents do.
American’s are not fully satisfied with how unequally the distribution is for the mere
fact that we strive for equality and it has not been attained. The protest of Occupy Wall Street
shows the dramatic reactions from US citizens towards this particular issue (and many others).
Not only in America but all around the world there was a hullabaloo regarding the
disagreement of wealth being dispersed. People were and are not pleased with the current
American situation and they believe that it should be fixed quickly. However, if the country
wants to fix it there has to be more productive actions taken other than a lousy protest.
First things first, if American’s do not want the wealth distribution the way it is they
must fully educate themselves on this issue. They completely underestimate the amount of
wealth that the top one percent has but thinking it is around fifty –nine percent. That alone
shows that we do not know our own economy The reason why American’s do not like the way
the economy is because and extravagantly small amount of people control “everything”. And
everyone else is left to follow without a choice. Then the equal distribution of five 20% isn’t in
people’s favor either. It is communistic and completely unfair. Taking the common example of a
doctor and a janitor. The amount of effort that we put is are the rewards that we receive. If
changed to an equal distribution then all the work the doctor put in compared with the little
work a janitor put in with schooling the reward would be the same for both. And that would not
be fair especially for the person that put in an incredible amount of effort.
Simply by examining the Swedish chart it makes sense because the richest are still
attaining more of the wealth than anyone else. They are more educated, motivated, and driven
to succeed in a job and receive power but they are not taking that power to an extreme extent.
Then the bottom fifth, the 11%, still are capable in making decisions. They have a voice to be
included with what goes on in the economy.
Another great example is the Gini Coefficient which is a table that shows the degree of
income inequality amongst countries. It is a “mathematical ratio that allows economists to put
all countries on a scale with values that range (hypothetically) from zero (everyone in the
country has the same income) to 100 (one person in the country has all the income)”. Sadly but
not surprisingly the US is placed at the number 93 out of 133 counties as having an unequal
income distribution. South America taking last place and Sweden taking first as having a great
degree of income equality.
There are several reasons why the inequality of distribution and there is a simple start
for eliminate this problem. The solution would be to end discrimination in America. We have
46.2 million or 15.1% of people living in poverty. That population has the slightest chance to
have control or a dramatic say in what goes on. And taking a look at statistics it can be seen
that the people who are in poverty are generally not white.
2012 Poverty Guidelines for the
48 Contiguous States and the District of Columbia
Persons in
family/household
Poverty guideline
1
$11,170
2
15,130
3
19,090
4
23,050
5
27,010
6
30,970
7
34,930
8
38,890
For families/households with more than 8 persons,
add $3,960 for each additional person.
Low Income Levels
Size of Family
Unit
48 Contiguous States,
D.C., and Outlying
Jurisdictions
Alaska
Hawaii
1
$16,755
$20,955
$19,290
2
$22,695
$28,380
$26,115
3
$28,635
$35,805
$32,940
4
$34,575
$43,230
$39,765
5
$40,515
$50,655
$46,590
6
$46,455
$58,080
$53,415
7
$52,395
$65,505
$60,240
8
$58,335
$72,930
$67,065
America is a very diverse country compared to many others. We welcome all kinds of
ethnicities to come into our country to a point that people call the US a “melting pot”. Native
Americans, Latinos, African American, Islanders, Asians, Caucasians. We all know that
Caucasians are the majority group in America and the rest are known as minority groups.
Though discrimination is improving each year it still lingers amongst the citizens of the United
States. If we were to have less of this discrimination that would be one less factor of having
46.2 million people in poverty and slowly making improvements to an economy like Sweden.
Percentages can easily show the discrimination towards other ethnicities. There has
been a troubling history with each ethnic group in the past and they still linger amongst us.
America strives for equality and even says we are all equal but that is not the truth. The truth is
that Caucasians are still discriminatory towards people with darker skin, slanted eyes, and even
a different accent. And the poverty rate statistics show it. Asians are at 9.3% poverty,
Hispanic/Latino 18.8%, Native Hawaiian 24.1%, American Indian 25.3%, African American
28.0%, two or more ethnicities 14.9%, other 18.5%, Caucasian is at 7.6%. What an incredible
difference!
If the discrimination would come to a halt amongst ethnic groups then that would be
the first gateway towards what equality really means and how certain things, such as wealth,
should be distributed. Getting races out of poverty would be a starting point for the degree of
income inequality to be changed, however, there would still be a lot more work after
discrimination being solved because this is the first solution towards the distribution amongst
races and not the poor and the rich.
Afterwards many wage adjustments would have to be carefully made as well as how the
population would be taxed. The change and process of having a more even distribution would
be very complex to attain and it would take well over 50 years but it is what Americans have
been shown to want. And if those statistics show what we desire then the US should strive for
it!
Works Cited
Belsky, Gary, and Tom Gilovich. "What Class Divide? Rich and Poor, Red and Blue Agree on
Wealth Distribution." 03 04 2012: n. page. Print. <What Class Divide? Rich and Poor,
Red and
Blue Agree on Wealth Distribution>.
Tencer, Daniel. "Study: Most Americans want wealth distribution similar to Sweden." 25 09
2010: n. page. Print. <http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/25/poll-wealth-distributionsimilar-sweden/>.
2012 HHS Poverty Guidelines . 2012. Photograph. n.p.
Domhoff, William. "Wealth, Income, and Power." 03 2012: n. page. Print.
<http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html>.
. "Community Assessment." Poverty and Income. N.p., 2008. Web. 23 Apr 2012.
<http://www2.uwkc.org/kcca/data/Income/income.asp>.