- Examine the infographics here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/12/inequality-us-_n_3421381.html
- Watch the following (6 minute) infographic clip found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM
1. What's the most surprising information?
2.What do you believe the causes of disparity in wealth is?
3. Do you think that the wealth distributions is a problem? Why?
4. What are the implications of these infographics for the American dream?
5. Do you believe that the economic disparities will affect you and your future?
I thought that the wealth distribution in America was bad but I didn't think it was this severe. I think that this is due to the top percentage of wealthy people using workers cheap labor to make themselves richer. Then when they have kids they become just as rich while the poor peoples children will struggle to make a living. With generations of this it becomes almost impossible to escape your socioeconomic class. The implications of this is that the American dream, or meaning of success becomes harder to achieve or the quality of the dream itself is lowered to include more people. I do think these distributions will effect me but not nearly as severely as the poor class, given that I graduate from college with decent job opportunities.
ReplyDeleteIt realy surprised me how big the gap realy is between the upper and lower class. The gap between even the bottom half and only the top one percent was huge! The stastics comparing the CEO to thier worker was astonishing as well. This seems like it has only been getting worse over the years and it seems like it could definitely become problematic. The middle class is shrinking and the further the gaps become, the harder it will be to move frome one class to another. It seems the American dream is becoming harder and harder to achieve. This is something that will become even more of a problem if it is not taken care of.
ReplyDeleteJenna Weaver
I thought it was amazing that the lower 80 percent of the population only had 7 percent of the wealth, when the top 1 percent of people had 40 percent. Also it was hard to grasp how little wealth the middle class actually had compared to the wealthy. I thought the middle class would be above the ideal cure because how little the percent of people in poverty had. Wealth distribution is a problem because wealth is almost wasted by the richest of people, when the poorest people are struggling to get by. There are not many ways to solving this problem besides switching our economy to that of socialist economy, which the video talks down on. I believe that the economic disparities will affect me in the future because i will have to fight to earn enough money to be in the upper middle class I want my children to be in a good socioeconomic class. It wont effect me as much as a poor people, because it is very hard to escape poverty.
ReplyDeleteFor those of you, like Max, who wonder what might be done, a Paul Krugman, a key American economist, explains the ideas proposed in an important new book called Capital in this video clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzQYA9Qjsi0
ReplyDeleteI was very shocked at the statistics of the wealth distribution in our country. I did not think that it was that severe. I found if very surprising that half of all americans are considered poor or low income, and many people live under the poverty line than we think, and the numbers just keep getting worse. People with high incomes keep getting wealthier over time, and that 1% of people have 40% of all the nation's wealth. I think this is a problem because there is a huge amount of the population struggling to get by, while a smaller amount of people can live comfortably, which seems very unfair. The American dream is all about finding success and living the best life possible, but as the years pass, it seems like this dream is diminishing and almost seems impossible for many to achieve.
ReplyDeleteSara Yauchler
ReplyDeleteI was clearly surprised by how the wealth distribution is these days. The ideal that people want it to be, is nowhere near where it supposedly is. The gap between classes is huge and surprising along with the fact that almost more than half of the country has most of the wealth. If it was distributed equally it would be unfair to those who would work hard for money but it's also not fair that people don't have money at all at times. The economy is getting worse and worse and I completely agree with Jenna that the ideal 'American Dream' is becoming harder to grasp onto and it's becoming less and less likely to become a higher middle class.
This video surprised me much more than I expected it to. Obviously, socialism isn't realistic in this time period, but I don't think it is in any way, fair that the average employer has to work for a month to make the equivalent of what some may make in an hour.
ReplyDeleteReferring to Question #3, I think that this distribution of wealth is a problem, because there are some people in this country that are relying on solely pocket change, while others obtain too much money to count. In my opinion, something needs to be done to make this country's wealth more fair, but the question is: what could it be?
I was most shocked that the wealth distribution in America is wildly unfair. Also how we try to believe that the distribution isn't so bad, but all the graphs and numbers shut that idea down immediately. This could be happening due to how quickly people are getting discouraged when searching for careers. We only realize that this is a problem when the poor can barely get by as the wealthy are throwing away cash. This proves that the so called "American Dream" is utterly unreachable for the vast majority of the countries population. Wealth distribution effects everyone and I will certainly not be an exception to that. Depending on where you fall in any one of these graphs can decide you're entire future.
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ReplyDelete1. I found it surprising that the average worker has to work more than a month to make what their CEO earns in an hour. Also that New York is one of the states where there's a very high income divided between the rich and the poor.
ReplyDelete2. I believe the causes of disparity in wealth are that a lot of people who are very wealthy, such as the top 1% , don't get their money from income anymore, but capital gains, which are taxed less than income. Also, everyone spends money on things like food and gas, and for someone making $50,000 a year versus $2 million a year, it makes a bigger dent in their paycheck.
3. I believe this gap is unfair because some people are barely scraping by, living off pocket change to stay alive, while others have too much money to even know what to do with it.
4. The bigger the gap between the classes becomes, the harder it is to reach the "American dream." The more money the upper class gets, the less the lower and middle classes have. It's like trying to climb up a melon that keeps getting bigger and steeper.
5. I do think this will affect my future because over time, the gap has gotten bigger so by the time I'm an adult it'll probably only be worse. However, I am better off than many considering I've grown up in an upper-middle class home/society and will be able to afford a good education, which is what holds many people back from moving up the ladder.