Examples Of Inequality In America

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Inequality is the seeming noticeable difference of an object or person being more fitting than another. According to Dictionary.com, inequality is described as “the condition of being unequal; lack of equality; disparity” (Dictionary). This means that for example, African Americans will never truly be equal to their white American counterparts. Just looking at national news stations, social media, and through our history books, it seems like African Americans are always attacked in some way shape or form of racism.This is not the only inequality in modern America, others are the glass ceiling, and income inequality. These all affect people in the United States in some way shape or form, whether it be one thing or all three examples above. The …show more content…
For example, “the top one percent of wealthy Americans control 40 percent” (The Hive). This means that while the middle and lower class is spending their money, the 1 percent is either receiving the income or saving their income (and sometimes both). This affects society as a whole because while those people are getting richer and gaining wealth and income, the lower and middle class are becoming poorer and the gap between the three is increasing. Another reason to be concerned about inequality is because of the marginal-productivity theory. According to The Hive, “this theory associated higher incomes with higher productivity and greater contribution to society” (The Hive). This means that the more and harder you work and the greater the contribution to society, the higher the pay. This may affect society due to the fact that some CEO’s are getting these high pay grade for completing little to no work. Furthermore, inequality is something that we should be concerned about as a society as a result of these CEO’s getting paid for nothing, in which that money could go towards a school or a small business. According to the article, if most the citizens in an economy are not doing well year after year, then the American economy will not do well in the long haul (The Hive). This means three things, one that with the growing inequality will bring a diminish of equal opportunity. Two, the people who are in …show more content…
For example, saying inequality has never been worse for America and the American people. (Cato In.). This means that the top 400 American’s own as much (or even more) than the lower class. This does not affect society as a whole because of market income (it does not factor in both taxes or social welfare payments) and their important effect on net income (the total sale earnings.) Another reason to be unconcerned about inequality is because the rich not only inherit money, but they still earn money. According to the Cato Institute, about 80 percent of American millionaires are the first generation of their family to attain that status (Cato In.). This means that not only are they gaining from self-interest, but they also put in the effort to earn. This does not affect society due to everyone earning some amount of wage, whether it be less or more. Furthermore, inequality is something that we should not be concerned about as a society as a result of inequality being relevant to a greater poverty gap. According to Michael Tanner, “Poverty rates have sometimes risen during periods of relatively stable levels of inequality and declined during times of rising inequality.” This means that the inequality rate seems to constantly fluctuate and change. The effects of this on society are minor because it slowly changes, but does have constant