Shifting the Burden
During the 1950s and 60s, the biggest growth period in American economic history, the rich and the poor alike got wealthy, giving life to the American Dream in. There was as much growth in the top five percent, as there was in the bottom five percent. Welfare state measures were implemented which improved life for much of the population This made it possible for a black worker to get a decent job, buy a home, get a car, and have his children go to school. Large corporations at this time payed much more in taxes than they do now. Unfortunately, in our current economic climate, this is no longer a reachable reality and in turn has threatened the American Dream. The well respected political activist Noam Chomsky has gone forth to argue in his documentary Requiem for the American Dream, that this …show more content…
That the “burden” is being shifted onto everyone outside the plutonomy and that there has been a general shift towards a plutonomy and that remaining citizens not considered a part of the plutonomy are considered part of the precariat. Although his claim is accurate about shifting the burden and that there indeed is a growing precariat and plutonomy in control of the nation 's wealth and power, he fails to mention the nation is not just composed of two groups. His conviction does not account for people living in the middle ground. In the social-economic system, there are three classes, lower, middle and upper class. Though the upper class does not directly align with the plutonomy nor the lower class with the precariat, there is always a middle ground. In this nation there are individuals who aren’t living precariously, but do not have enough wealth to be considered part of the plutonomy. In this case, even though it can be argued there is more movement towards the two polar ends, there will always be individuals who are stuck in the middle. Chomsky does not mention this in his documentary Requiem for the American
During the 1950s and 60s, the biggest growth period in American economic history, the rich and the poor alike got wealthy, giving life to the American Dream in. There was as much growth in the top five percent, as there was in the bottom five percent. Welfare state measures were implemented which improved life for much of the population This made it possible for a black worker to get a decent job, buy a home, get a car, and have his children go to school. Large corporations at this time payed much more in taxes than they do now. Unfortunately, in our current economic climate, this is no longer a reachable reality and in turn has threatened the American Dream. The well respected political activist Noam Chomsky has gone forth to argue in his documentary Requiem for the American Dream, that this …show more content…
That the “burden” is being shifted onto everyone outside the plutonomy and that there has been a general shift towards a plutonomy and that remaining citizens not considered a part of the plutonomy are considered part of the precariat. Although his claim is accurate about shifting the burden and that there indeed is a growing precariat and plutonomy in control of the nation 's wealth and power, he fails to mention the nation is not just composed of two groups. His conviction does not account for people living in the middle ground. In the social-economic system, there are three classes, lower, middle and upper class. Though the upper class does not directly align with the plutonomy nor the lower class with the precariat, there is always a middle ground. In this nation there are individuals who aren’t living precariously, but do not have enough wealth to be considered part of the plutonomy. In this case, even though it can be argued there is more movement towards the two polar ends, there will always be individuals who are stuck in the middle. Chomsky does not mention this in his documentary Requiem for the American