On Behalf of Inequality and the Top 1 Percent
For the past few decades, the unequal distribution of income has gradually positioned itself as one of the focal themes of academic research and of national debates in the United States. While the chances of it being thoroughly discussed on the news remain relatively slim due to Donald Trump 's latest groping scandal and Hillary Clinton 's missing emails, the topic inevitably holds the interest of many other people, especially economists, leading politicians, and the middle-class workers, as its impacts gradually grow in intensity and in parameters. Yet, instead of focusing on proposing practical resolutions through public policies, people are concentrating their efforts and anger on blaming the …show more content…
According to Thompson 's report on income inequality, starting from the 1970s ', the disparity in earnings between the bottom workers of income distribution and the top earning workers in the United States has expanded dramatically as wages of the lowest workers stagnated while those of the highest workers kept on increasing. (2012) The Luxembourg Income Study also shows that middle class in America is earning less than the middle class in some other nations. (Madrick, 2014) More specifically, a study using 2012 data concluded that the upper class, composed of 20 percent of the population, owned 89 percent of total wealth, while the 80 percent lower class possessed only 11 percent of national wealth. (Domhoff, 2013) Even more striking, the bottom 40 percent of the population possessed only 0.3 percent of the US total wealth, a number several times lower than most people have expected, whereas the share of total income of the top 0.1 percent income earners rose from 0.5 percent in 1973 to 3.3 percent in 2010. (Piketty and Saez, 2010) Yet, even after taxes, the rich retain 75 percent for personal expenditures and recreation. (Hacker, 2012) Never in the history has wealth and/or income distribution so concentrated like it currently does, which further emphasizes the need …show more content…
More specifically, with the introduction of assembly machines, companies can now curtail the number of workers required in the manufacturing chain, while augmenting the overall speed and efficiency, resulting in greater revenues at a much lower cost. As a matter of fact, 2011 data shows that technological advances account for a nearly third of the widening gap in income distribution between the top 10 percent earners and the bottom 90 percent over the last 25 years. (Dabla-Norris et. al, 2015) Agreeing with the impacts of technology on inequality, Sherwin Rosen, a Chicago economist, argues that advanced technology creates "winner-take-all" markets in which few individuals reap enormous rewards even when their performance shows no significant differences than that of others who earn less. (Krugman, 2014) In addition, as the countries become more integrated with the process of globalization, most developed countries suffer from outsourcing, in which corporates reallocate their high-tech and manufacturing jobs overseas, especially to China and India where labor demand a much lower wage. (Amadeo, 2016) Needless for further clarification, the advances of technology and the process of international integration have irrefutably contributed to the increase in the inequitable distribution
For the past few decades, the unequal distribution of income has gradually positioned itself as one of the focal themes of academic research and of national debates in the United States. While the chances of it being thoroughly discussed on the news remain relatively slim due to Donald Trump 's latest groping scandal and Hillary Clinton 's missing emails, the topic inevitably holds the interest of many other people, especially economists, leading politicians, and the middle-class workers, as its impacts gradually grow in intensity and in parameters. Yet, instead of focusing on proposing practical resolutions through public policies, people are concentrating their efforts and anger on blaming the …show more content…
According to Thompson 's report on income inequality, starting from the 1970s ', the disparity in earnings between the bottom workers of income distribution and the top earning workers in the United States has expanded dramatically as wages of the lowest workers stagnated while those of the highest workers kept on increasing. (2012) The Luxembourg Income Study also shows that middle class in America is earning less than the middle class in some other nations. (Madrick, 2014) More specifically, a study using 2012 data concluded that the upper class, composed of 20 percent of the population, owned 89 percent of total wealth, while the 80 percent lower class possessed only 11 percent of national wealth. (Domhoff, 2013) Even more striking, the bottom 40 percent of the population possessed only 0.3 percent of the US total wealth, a number several times lower than most people have expected, whereas the share of total income of the top 0.1 percent income earners rose from 0.5 percent in 1973 to 3.3 percent in 2010. (Piketty and Saez, 2010) Yet, even after taxes, the rich retain 75 percent for personal expenditures and recreation. (Hacker, 2012) Never in the history has wealth and/or income distribution so concentrated like it currently does, which further emphasizes the need …show more content…
More specifically, with the introduction of assembly machines, companies can now curtail the number of workers required in the manufacturing chain, while augmenting the overall speed and efficiency, resulting in greater revenues at a much lower cost. As a matter of fact, 2011 data shows that technological advances account for a nearly third of the widening gap in income distribution between the top 10 percent earners and the bottom 90 percent over the last 25 years. (Dabla-Norris et. al, 2015) Agreeing with the impacts of technology on inequality, Sherwin Rosen, a Chicago economist, argues that advanced technology creates "winner-take-all" markets in which few individuals reap enormous rewards even when their performance shows no significant differences than that of others who earn less. (Krugman, 2014) In addition, as the countries become more integrated with the process of globalization, most developed countries suffer from outsourcing, in which corporates reallocate their high-tech and manufacturing jobs overseas, especially to China and India where labor demand a much lower wage. (Amadeo, 2016) Needless for further clarification, the advances of technology and the process of international integration have irrefutably contributed to the increase in the inequitable distribution