Analysis Of Progress And Poverty By Henry George

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. It goes against American tradition to allow someone to have a wage that does not allow them to live comfortably. George suggested that in order to fix this problem, the government should implement a tax based on a person’s income level. Those who own property or make a substantial amount of money should be taxed higher than those who make less money. If no one deals with the increasing wage gap, the United States might fail like countries in the past who had …show more content…
This idea seemingly contradicts the idea of Social Darwinism at the time which stated that those who fail to support themselves financially would be rooted out by the laws of nature. George argues that unjust and unequal distribution of wealth “…are not imposed by natural laws; that they spring solely from social mal-adjustment which ignore natural laws…” (George, 42) He argues that the economic sense of Social Darwinism is an idea made up by man to justify the inequalities. To add onto his argument, George stated that “In permitting the monopolization of the natural opportunities which nature freely offers to all, we have ignored the fundamental law of justice…” (George, 43) He would go on to say that justice is the law of the world. Monopolies are unjust because it restricted people’s natural opportunities. By removing monopolies and allowing people to have more economic opportunities, we can remove the greatest cause for