Kitan Irukera
DSOC Essay 2
The paramount cause of the rising inequality in the United States is the increasing importance and power of money in politics. I subscribes to Stiglitz beliefs concerning the purpose of a democratic government; to protect consumers, sustain favorable market conditions and provide common defense. The average citizen determines what should be considered “favorable market conditions “-not the elites. Income distribution is a product of market conditions, and since government regulates the market, I “politics is the battleground for fights over how to divide the nation’s economic pie.” The growing role of money in politics has allowed wealthy citizens to acquire power than modern political theory teaches they should have. …show more content…
Inequality is growing, because the wealthy gain from inequality. Stiglitz explains this in chapter 5 of his book; he writes that we have laws “to provide incentives for each of us to avoid injuries to others” (236), because laws the incentives to not injure someone else are in an unregulated society are ineffective at encouraging favorable behavior. Rules and regulation affect the efficiency and distribution of wealth in our economic system, and the wealthy use their bought political political power to shape the rule of law in their favor. Stiglitz asserts that laws are supposed to be designed to protect the weak, but the wealthy use their power to make sure it does the exact …show more content…
Stiglitz writes that unbalance politics “driven by extremes of inequality leads to instability” (112). The increasing power of the wealthy leads to deregulated and inefficient markets. When polluters don’t pay the social cost of their environmental damage, and banks are properly punished, costs are not being allocated correctly and he market can’t function properly and operate at a sustainable equilibrium. Additionally, the elites succeeding in shaping an unjust legal system that fails to effectively discourage certain types of bad behavior. Extreme inequality creates a voter paradox in which people are only willing to vote if they feel that the political process is working in their favor. Polls show that there are “large discrepancies between what most voters want and what the political system delivers” (148), and this reduces motivation to vote.
In Stiglitz book we also learn about how the wealthy “who wish to preserve societies’ inequalities” use their control of the media to shape perceptions and convince Americans to support policies against their
DSOC Essay 2
The paramount cause of the rising inequality in the United States is the increasing importance and power of money in politics. I subscribes to Stiglitz beliefs concerning the purpose of a democratic government; to protect consumers, sustain favorable market conditions and provide common defense. The average citizen determines what should be considered “favorable market conditions “-not the elites. Income distribution is a product of market conditions, and since government regulates the market, I “politics is the battleground for fights over how to divide the nation’s economic pie.” The growing role of money in politics has allowed wealthy citizens to acquire power than modern political theory teaches they should have. …show more content…
Inequality is growing, because the wealthy gain from inequality. Stiglitz explains this in chapter 5 of his book; he writes that we have laws “to provide incentives for each of us to avoid injuries to others” (236), because laws the incentives to not injure someone else are in an unregulated society are ineffective at encouraging favorable behavior. Rules and regulation affect the efficiency and distribution of wealth in our economic system, and the wealthy use their bought political political power to shape the rule of law in their favor. Stiglitz asserts that laws are supposed to be designed to protect the weak, but the wealthy use their power to make sure it does the exact …show more content…
Stiglitz writes that unbalance politics “driven by extremes of inequality leads to instability” (112). The increasing power of the wealthy leads to deregulated and inefficient markets. When polluters don’t pay the social cost of their environmental damage, and banks are properly punished, costs are not being allocated correctly and he market can’t function properly and operate at a sustainable equilibrium. Additionally, the elites succeeding in shaping an unjust legal system that fails to effectively discourage certain types of bad behavior. Extreme inequality creates a voter paradox in which people are only willing to vote if they feel that the political process is working in their favor. Polls show that there are “large discrepancies between what most voters want and what the political system delivers” (148), and this reduces motivation to vote.
In Stiglitz book we also learn about how the wealthy “who wish to preserve societies’ inequalities” use their control of the media to shape perceptions and convince Americans to support policies against their