Income inequality metrics

Krugman's essay "Confronting Inequality," published in his 2007 book "The Conscience of a Liberal.," I personally believe this article could have the potential for a wide audience. Inequality is something a majority of Americans deal with whether they realize it or not. Krugman discusses the many ways America had fallen into distinct gaps of inequality. He presents a highly logical argument in which he reveals why, and how, America has gotten to different points of inequality whether it be due…

religious satire and cultural arrogance. Both Hardin and Swift give arguments of why we are to be our brother’s keeper in a world where population is out of control and greed and self-preservation is a motivating factor. Hardin describes economic inequality as a population of the world in life boats. The rich and elite have first seating in the rest of the world is left to tread water. The rich, if they were to help save the ones in the water would drown themselves. The analogy of the life…

Income and Wealth Inequality It is without a doubt that income and wealth inequality is the largest corrosive force toward a decent economy in the United States. The effect of the rich getting dramastically richer while the poor have lost what little they had has lead to some economists labeling the last 20 years as the “Age of Greed.” Income & wealth inequality in America has placed many people below the poverty line and squeezed middle class families; the implementation of a living wage, a…

Affluenza, the debilitating addiction to purchasing a great deal of materials, made its first debut in American vocabulary via PBS in 1997. From “dire warnings” to “late-night TV jokes,” affluenza has stolen the spotlight of the American market. I believe that being completely fixated on material goods can potentially detrimental to one’s character; however, consumerism plays an extremely important role in a thriving economy. To begin, affluenza is commonly mistaken as the most efficient way to…

source of income rather than finding a job and supporting their family with earned income. The unemployement rate is officially at its lowest since 2008, that's nearly 12 million Americans out of work; but does that mean their is no income within the household. If they are working under the table, there is no way to track their finances. Giving handouts creates more beggars, not producers. Welfare misuse and abuse impacts every citizen working. Working citizens are taxed on their income,…

become better than their previous selves. This realization is key to achieving the American dream because it has been this way since the beginning. In the short fiction story, The Lesson, by Toni Cade Bambara, Sylvia is learning about the economic inequality that is present in America. There are many ways to take this, but Sylvia is determined to not let economic gap get in the way of her succeeding, saying “But ain’t nobody gonna beat me at nuthin” (400). This mindset is not a guaranteed way to…

constantly being exploited by the rich. Despite this cycle of poverty, McCullers depicts through incognizant diction, that the true cause of this exploitation is the poor’s oblivion. Blount describes how the impoverished have been misinformed of the inequality of wealth. Blount depicts the poor’s oblivion through terms such as, the truth has been hidden, poisonous lies so they…

In response to this week’s discussion, readings and film on inequality. The interminable concern of economic inequality is pertinent to concepts of equity, equality of condition and outcome, and equality of opportunity. Based on gender, class status, and most importantly education. Based upon what I learned, economic mobility decreases depending on social factors. I feel these two concepts go hand in hand. Some examples of these factors such as geographical location, attainment to education and…

describes how the class gap between the well-to-do and poverty-stricken families continue to grow. “Researchers say the expanding class gap in education is likely a byproduct of the country’s widening income inequality” When comparing the incomes of the classes, “Parents in the top quintile of income in the U.S. (households earning at least $102,000 in 2011, according to census data compiled by the Tax Policy Institute, a nonprofit research group) now spend more than double what parents in the…

The chapter begins with Frideres explaining how Aboriginal people have been facing problems such as social and economic dilemmas for a long time, and how its not something that happened overnight. He then explains how the problems first began when the early European settlers arrived in Canada, “These structural impacts began to affect Aboriginal people at the time of contact with Europeans and became increasingly influential as the immigrant population grew” (Frideres 2). He then goes to say…