Inequality is a concept that has been around for centuries and it applies to many areas of human life such as education, income, and in some cases certain rights. Today many people are concerned about this concept of inequality and how it relates to people economically. There have been countless numbers of initiatives to close the gap between the different socio-economic classes. Having a more progressive tax system and raising minimum wage are the two most common tools that the public look to in order to make our society more equal. However, the issue of inequality is becoming more blurred. As David Weisbach pointed out in his lecture, when it comes to taxes, what people care about is equal impact and equal loss: the rich should feel
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Harry G. Frankfurt said it best in his book on inequality: “Exaggerating the moral importance of economic equality is harmful, in other words, because it is alienating…it leads him to focus his attention upon desires and needs that are not most authentically his own” …show more content…
It is a well-known fact that "the system is rigged!”: money influences politics (Henderson Lecture). An example that Professor Henderson gave of this is the Obama-era loan program in section 1705. Of twenty billion dollars, sixteen billion went to companies primarily owned by backer of Obama. The rich can influence politics, and they are the ones that will benefit from it. The discrepancies do not end there, it is often argued that the rich are afforded a higher social status, and a better ability to make effective use of their various opportunities and entitlements (Frankfurt 16). However, it is extremely difficult to get rid of these injustices, as was seen with Dodd-Frank. Thousands of pages and hundreds of new rules were created to protect the banking sector and get rid of “too big to fail” banking institutions, however, this backfired and it was the smaller banks that were hurt since the costs of compliance fell disproportionately on the small banks (Henderson Lecture). The large banking institutions were able to hire thousands of compliance professionals at relatively little cost to them, while the smaller banks took a heavy hit. This goes to show that, while inequalities in income can lead to social injustices, there is very little that can be done to end or limit these
Harry G. Frankfurt said it best in his book on inequality: “Exaggerating the moral importance of economic equality is harmful, in other words, because it is alienating…it leads him to focus his attention upon desires and needs that are not most authentically his own” …show more content…
It is a well-known fact that "the system is rigged!”: money influences politics (Henderson Lecture). An example that Professor Henderson gave of this is the Obama-era loan program in section 1705. Of twenty billion dollars, sixteen billion went to companies primarily owned by backer of Obama. The rich can influence politics, and they are the ones that will benefit from it. The discrepancies do not end there, it is often argued that the rich are afforded a higher social status, and a better ability to make effective use of their various opportunities and entitlements (Frankfurt 16). However, it is extremely difficult to get rid of these injustices, as was seen with Dodd-Frank. Thousands of pages and hundreds of new rules were created to protect the banking sector and get rid of “too big to fail” banking institutions, however, this backfired and it was the smaller banks that were hurt since the costs of compliance fell disproportionately on the small banks (Henderson Lecture). The large banking institutions were able to hire thousands of compliance professionals at relatively little cost to them, while the smaller banks took a heavy hit. This goes to show that, while inequalities in income can lead to social injustices, there is very little that can be done to end or limit these