According to the World Institute for Development Economics Research at the United Nations University, the richest 1% of adult humans alone owned 40% of global assets in the year 2000, and the richest 10% of adults accounted for 85% of the total world wealth while the bottom half of the world adult population owned only 1% of global wealth. Zygmunt Bauman claims that the prime victim to the growing disparity between the poor and the well-off is democracy: as equality steers further out of our grasp, access to acceptable livelihood becomes increasingly challenging, and survivability becomes a major concern once again. Therefore, until the empowerment of the middle-class triumphs, only then may the richness of the few benefits us all.
Our …show more content…
Although wages have stayed the same, the standards of living have increased, thus causing the poor to become even poorer. In 1960, the average pay after taxes for chief executives at the largest U.S. corporations was 12 times greater than the average wage of factory workers. By the year 2000, this number had grown to 531. The idea that inequality is justified on the grounds of those at the top had contributed more to the economy by believing they are “job creators”, is verified to be false by the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. The richest of our country walked off with millions of dollars and the left the rest of the world in shambles. Through this, it shows that those at the top had become so untouchable, not even the president had done anything about it. Those who had jobs, lost theirs, and struggled to find work. Those who were unemployed had that excuse to be jobless as it was not their fault. Many say that those who do not have a job lack the skills or knowledge to work; yet, those who were over-skilled and overqualified still lost their job, and could not find another decent one until years …show more content…
Those that we should be focusing the blame on, are not the ones given the penalty that they deserve. This in whole is a factor of the “income defense industry” tendering to oligarchs to protect their assets: they deploy an army of lawyers, accountants, consultants, lobbyists, and media framers to solve their problems or shift them elsewhere. The oligarchs use their inconceivable wealth to offshore havens in order to minimize taxes, and frame media to direct attention off of themselves. As they keep their wealth offshore, the rich reduces their tax rates, while the middle-class families, incapable of replicating such methods, are subjected to a higher tax rate in comparison. Corporations pour millions of dollars into lobbying in Washington, D.C. to ensure that they acquire everything they want. Except when the middle class thinks of millions of dollars, it is usually an image of a mountain of cash. In contrast, when the rich think of millions of dollars, to them it is merely a road bump that they can easily overcome. If we have entered into this level of powerlessness, maybe the path to despotism has been set in
Our …show more content…
Although wages have stayed the same, the standards of living have increased, thus causing the poor to become even poorer. In 1960, the average pay after taxes for chief executives at the largest U.S. corporations was 12 times greater than the average wage of factory workers. By the year 2000, this number had grown to 531. The idea that inequality is justified on the grounds of those at the top had contributed more to the economy by believing they are “job creators”, is verified to be false by the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. The richest of our country walked off with millions of dollars and the left the rest of the world in shambles. Through this, it shows that those at the top had become so untouchable, not even the president had done anything about it. Those who had jobs, lost theirs, and struggled to find work. Those who were unemployed had that excuse to be jobless as it was not their fault. Many say that those who do not have a job lack the skills or knowledge to work; yet, those who were over-skilled and overqualified still lost their job, and could not find another decent one until years …show more content…
Those that we should be focusing the blame on, are not the ones given the penalty that they deserve. This in whole is a factor of the “income defense industry” tendering to oligarchs to protect their assets: they deploy an army of lawyers, accountants, consultants, lobbyists, and media framers to solve their problems or shift them elsewhere. The oligarchs use their inconceivable wealth to offshore havens in order to minimize taxes, and frame media to direct attention off of themselves. As they keep their wealth offshore, the rich reduces their tax rates, while the middle-class families, incapable of replicating such methods, are subjected to a higher tax rate in comparison. Corporations pour millions of dollars into lobbying in Washington, D.C. to ensure that they acquire everything they want. Except when the middle class thinks of millions of dollars, it is usually an image of a mountain of cash. In contrast, when the rich think of millions of dollars, to them it is merely a road bump that they can easily overcome. If we have entered into this level of powerlessness, maybe the path to despotism has been set in