On July 11, 2011, Author Dee Dee Myers published the article “What Class Warfare Really Looks Like.” The Short Horn would be doing a great injustice if it chose not to publish the article in an upcoming issue of the paper. The article helps to paint a very vivid picture of the sacrifices that members of the poor and lower middle class have to make, while seeming the upper middle and wealthy maintain their comforts in life. (the intro should be a little longer/mention ethos/pathos/logos) The sarcastic tone in Myers writing allows the reader to relax in the reading as if they are simple enjoying a conversation with an old friend.…
In modern America, not only are the rich privileged by benefiting from how America’s tax system works, but the poor are also being oppressed by it. The 2015 edition of Who Pays: A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems…
Kenneth Scheve and David Stasavage. 2016. Taxing the Rich: A History of Fiscal Fairness in the United States and Europe. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. ISBN: 9780691165455, 288 pp., $29.95 (hardcover). Reviewed by Paul Walker, West Virginia University An incredibly relevant and much debated topic in the political realm is the question of how much of the tax burden should fall on the rich.…
This essay supports my argument in that describes the way to income inequality issue along in the American educational system. It not only include the benefit of improve educational level could possibly resolve the wage gap but also provide valuable viewpoint to show how some political issues are blocking the…
During the advancement of the Gilded Age, the United States saw an increasing disparity between the poor and the rich. Only a small amount of people had wages that allowed them to enjoy the life that they desire. The majority of American workers earned very little to fully enjoy life. In “Progress and Poverty”, Henry George criticized the current economic climate during the late 1800s and how we should solve it. George stated that as time progresses, poverty would expand and lead to even more problems.…
Foroohar references Joseph Stiglitz, the Columbia professor and former economic advisor to Bill Clinton when she shows how both “Republican and Democratic administrations have been at fault in crafting not only policies that forward inequality, but also a narrative that tells us that we can’t do anything about it” (Foroohar). This idea further supports the belief that the government must be challenged in order to create new laws and rules to structure our economy so that it is more balanced. Stiglitz emphasizes this idea when he explains how “it’s about the choices we make with the rules we create to structure our economy” (Foroohar). One of the reasons that the United States has not put forth effort in order to change the inevitable outcome of the lower classes, is the fact that they do not actually know how wealthy the upper class is. If the lower class was aware of the economic gap between classes there would be “riots in the streets” (Fitz).…
There is however, many solutions to income inequality. Economist Melissa Boteach states that income inequality is a serious issue in our society, but can be reduced. This can be done by creating jobs by investing in infrastructure, by “developing renewable energy sources, renovating abandoned housing and significantly increasing affordable housing investments, and making other commonsense investments” (Boteach). Furthermore, income inequality can be solved by reforming the criminal justice system by fighting against mass incarceration, expanding medicaid and improving job quality by raising the minimum wage to 12 dollars per hour…
There are always two sides to every argument. While reading “The Upside of Income Inequality” by Gary Becker and Kevin M. Murphy, and “Inequality Has Been Going On Forever… but That Doesn't Mean It's Inevitable” by David Leonhardt, I found many similarities and differences. Although Becker / Murphy and Leonhardt have written articles that are alike in their subject matter, each man responds differently to their views of income inequality. There are multiple examples as to how Leonhardt does this and the first example is found in the evidence he provided in his article. Leonhardt begins by sharing his thoughts about a book by Thomas Piketty called “Capital in the Twenty-First Century.”…
The wealth inequality in the U.S. has been growing gradually for decades and still, showing no signs of resolving it from any political candidates. It has been a vicious cycle that delivers detrimental outcomes to everyone. The rich people are getting richer due to the wealth they already have or inherited and resources that are ready to invest in lucrative activities or trades that are able to accumulate and could produce more rapidly new wealth. Additionally, children that were born or grown up in a rich family are more likely to attend college due to their tremendous influence and economic advantage, which may increase their chances to earn higher wages than any other social class. Whereas poor people are getting poorer due to individualism…
With the nation in heavy debate over the passage of the new Republican tax plan, attention is drawn yet again to wealth inequality in America. Regardless of the most efficacious solution to balancing the American budget, members of all socioeconomic classes are under scrutiny. Tensions are as high now as ever with the upper one percent owning nearly forty percent of the nation’s wealth, and the bottom fifth owning zero or negative wealth. In times like these, the barbarity of human nature is revealed, and prejudices are thinly veiled.…
Thesis: America will eventually become a middle-class nation again; it just takes time. America is in a state where two sides are fighting against each other. The middle class wants higher minimum wage and higher paying jobs, while upper class wants lower taxes. Both sides only want what benefits themselves. It's possible for each side to get what they want, but according to Paul Krugman, it's just a matter of time.…
For example, data shows that the income of the top 1% increased by 148% while the income of the top 0.1% grew by 343%. Meanwhile, the income of the top 0.01% rose by an astonishing 599% (Krugman 388). These statistics show that while poor Americans are getting poorer, the rich are actually getting richer. The assertion that the wealth gap between poor and rich Americans is best conceptualized by Robert Reich in his article “Why the rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer.” In this article, Reich writes that Americans were in the same economic boat at one point in time.…
Although taxes have been in existence for around 5,000 years, many educated people are still left wondering who should have to pay what. (“Taxes”) The main idea that leaves large quantities of people divided is progressive taxation. Progressive taxation is the concept that the wealthy people of a nation should be responsible for paying their taxes at higher rates. While George F. Will expresses his negative thoughts about progressive taxation, George Lakoff and Bruce Budner are strong advocates behind this philosophy of progressive taxation.…
Although each person has the right to make as much money as possible, in the United States the government should however keep the income rise proportioned by taxing the wealthy more and the poor less. In recent years the opposite happened where the taxes on the wealthy were cut from a top rate of 68% in 1980s to 28.5% by 1988. The share of federal tax revenue paid by corporations has dropped from 33 cents of every dollar collected in 1953 to less than 10 cents today. (Donald Barlett and James Steele: America: Who Really Pays the Taxes? Andrews and McMeel:…
For decades one question has continuously came up― should the rich pay a higher tax rate because of their wealth? There are two separate types of rich. There are those who inherit the money, and those who have worked hard and strived to be a successful person. Therefore, to answer the question previously stated, higher tax rates should not pertain to the ones who made sacrifices to become wealthy.…