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Friday, September 12, 2014

The Income Gap In America

By Kerri Stout


The issue of income inequality has been stealthily haunting the United States of America for quite some time already. From the late nineteen seventies up until today, income inequality is an issue that is recurring. Now if one would want to know more about the income gap in America, here are some of the facts and arguments.

Now before discussing about it, it is first important to know the true definition of income gap. Now basically, this refers to the inequality in the distribution of wealth between the three classes in the country namely the rich, the middle class, and the poor. Now in this case, one will be taking a look at the income bracket and looking at which class gets how much.

Now one would probably be more than familiar with the saying that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Now this is actually happening in America right now as majority of the wealth of the country is actually being taken by the rich. The middle class will also get a share but a low one, and the poor will be left with nothing.

Now of course in order to study this, economists studied the wealth generated by several countries. They take a sample of eighteen countries and studied how the distribution of wealth are for these countries ranging from the year 1975 up to the year 2007. Now they were able to conclude from the results that the United States was the country wherein the rich benefited the most.

In order to know why this is the case, one has to take a look at the active US market. Now it is common knowledge that the market of this country is a totally free market as it is a democratic country. This means that the wealth that is being generated by the people is not really monitored as the government would have little involvement with the market.

Of course this would raise the age old question as to whether this is actually a good thing or a bad thing for the country in the long run. Now most people would argue that people should earn just as much as they would work because it is fair. If a person would get their fair share of profits, then they will actually be more motivated to work and their spending power will increase.

Others believe this gap is very unhealthy because the more the unemployment rate would be going up, the less people with spending power. Now with the power all being squeezed at the top, these economists believe that the economy of the US will suffocate itself to death. This is simply because it will not be utilizing all of its people and therefore not be fully productive.

Inequality is indeed one issue that has yet to be fixed. While a lot of people still stick by their stand that a person should earn just as much as they are willing to work. On the other side, it is the job of those who have plenty to be able to help those who have less by providing them with opportunities so that the economy can prosper.




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