Economic inequality is hurting America, and I believe the government should do more to reduce it. Economic inequality has not only created unequal opportunity in our country, but has left the lower- and middle-income families to struggle, damaging our society. Economic inequality, the extent of disparity between high income and low income households, is rising in the United States; the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Some argue that economic inequality is beneficial as it motivates an individual to “innovate and specialize…create the goods that benefit the economy and society” (Coyne, Christopher J. “Income Inequality Benefits American Society.” Is the Gap Between the Rich and Poor Growing? MI: The Thomson Corporation), but I believe it is doing more harm than good.
“Confronting Inequality”, a chapter written by Paul Krugman in his book The Conscience of a Liberal, speaks about how economic inequality is negatively impacting our society, and suggests methods to reduce it. Krugman begins by positing a question of why should we even care about economic inequality, answering his own question he states, “One reason to care about inequality is the straightforward matter of living standards." Low- and middle income families are accumulating debt, while the rich are accumulating more wealth. Most of low- to middle income families is unable to afford health insurance, unable to make mortgage payments, unable to spend on luxuries, and are simply unable to provide healthy food.
America’s obesity issue (an overall harm to society) may very well be the cause of economic inequality, which should not be a living standard. “Obesity may also be the reason that the U.S., ostensibly the world’s wealthiest nation, ranks 29th in life expectancy, right behind Jordan and Bosnia. Those who think that these problems are primarily the result of voluntary lifestyle choices should reflect on the difficulty of providing a family of four with fresh fruits and vegetables on a minimum wage salary” (Dubner, How Big of A Deal is Income Inequality?, Freakonomics).
Krugman, in “Confronting Inequality”, also states that due to economic inequality there is a “vast inequality of opportunity…We may believe that anyone can succeed through hard work and determination, but the facts say otherwise.” Statistics, in Krugman’s article, show that ‘dumb rich kids’ had a higher chance of finishing college than more ‘smart poor kids’. Inequality of opportunity damages society because we could have better people suited for the job, instead of those who just gained the opportunity through wealth. Krugman in a different article, “Economic Inequality Has Accelerated,” fears that our country will end up with “a small group of wealthy but untalented children controls vast segments of the US economy and penniless, talented children simply can’t compete” and states that “we will end up suffering not only from injustice, but from a vast waste of human potential.”
Economic inequality is damaging our society; it is reducing equal opportunity, which is the image of our country. I’ve always believed that the United States is land of opportunity, but after doing research, sadly, I do not. I believe the government should step in to reduce economic inequality so that America can truly be the land of opportunity.
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Opportunity for All
ReplyDeleteMy colleague recently posted a blog entitled "Inequality Leading to More Inequality" discussing how economic inequalities are hurting America by creating unequal opportunities. His basis for this argument is that "dumb rich kids" have a greater chance of finishing college than "smart poor kids". He fails to recognize that even though it may be easier for a rich kid to enter college, it is not any easier for that kid to graduate. The fact that the "smart poor kid" is able to attend college shows that economic inequalities do not prevent this opportunity. History is full of examples of relatively poor, underprivileged American citizens who have obtained higher education and gone on to achieve great success in their chosen profession. A recent example is the newly appointed Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor, a product of immigrant parents who grew up in the projects in The Bronx New York. Another example is President Bill Clinton who was born into a poor single-parent household. Any American who is willing to work hard to achieve their goals is provided an equal opportunity to succeed. Granted entry into college may be harder than it is for a rich kid, but clearly the opportunities exist.
The blogger makes vague statements about how the government needs step up to reduce economic inequalities, but makes no indications of how this should be done. The fact remains that this is a free capitalist society. Experience tells us that communism doesn't work, and it's not our government's responsibility to spread the wealth equally across the population.
The Facts
ReplyDeleteRecently my colleague posted a blog titled "Inequality Leading to More Inequality" where he is stating that our nations economic gap between the rich and the poor is getting bigger, and that it is a serious problem. First he states that it has left the lower and middle classes to struggle, but how exactly are they struggling and why do you think that they are struggling? Well I will go ahead and tell you why, the reason that the middle and lower class families are where they are, is for the simple reason they buy luxuries first when the rich buy luxuries last. So what ends up happening is they go out and spend money that they don't have on credit cards, buying cars because they think they can afford the payments each month, and just buying things that I would consider a liability not as asset. So with that being said of course they are accumulating debt, you think that they just woke up one day and had 10,000 dollars in debt? Of course not, it is because the lower and middle class families do not make the same financial decisions that the rich do, which is why that gap is there in the first place. Americans now a days are maxing out a credit card and moving right along to the next application and then when they can't afford the payments on those they go out and get another card, which in the end leads to biggest hole of debt. When you state that that most lower and middle class families are unable to pay their mortgage payments and that they are unable to spend money on luxuries, first if they can't pay their mortgages they made a bad financial decision to live there in the first place. Also instead of spending money on "luxuries" why not invest that money like the rich do and make money work for you instead of working for money. So it all ties back to that there is a huge reason that the rich get richer and that is for the simple facts that they one; have money work for them by investing an assets instead of liabilties so that there income is from there assets instead of only their wages itself, and two the rich don't buy liabilties which is an expense at the end of every month. So all in all to say that the economic gap between the rich and middle and lower classes is a problem is because you have no financial education and don't see the facts of why this exists and that people in america do it to themselves, this is the land of the free and equal opportunity is still around and isn't going anywhere. You can do and be anything you want with the right knowledge of how money works and how to have it work for you, once you do that I don't think your opinion of this will be the same.