Income Inequality

Economic inequality is often also referred to as income inequality, wealth inequality, or the wealth gap. In the article, Of The 1%, By The 1%, For The 1% (2011), Joseph E. Stiglitz explained how the higher one percent of Americans are taking in almost a quarter of the nation’s income every year. This is mainly because of where they were raised verses how hard these Americans work. Most of these people were just lucky enough to grow up in this type of lifestyle.
The richest one percent of Americans had 33% of the nation’s wealth twenty-five years ago. They also took 12% of its yearly income. Now, they have 40 percent on the nation’s wealth and almost 25 percent of its yearly income. Meanwhile, the ones that are in the middle have seen their …show more content…
The first one being, whenever people diminish equality of opportunity, they are not using some of our most important assets. The second reason Stiglitz gives is that “many of the distortions that lead to inequality such as those associated with monopoly power and preferential tax treatment for special interests undermine the efficiency of the economy.” For example, many young kids nowadays prefer getting jobs that will give them the most money rather than get into a field that will lead to “a more productive and healthy economy.” The last reason is “a modern economy requires collective action.” Meaning, “it needs the government to invest in infrastructure, education, and technology” (Stiglitz). For instance, The United States has greatly benefited from the Internet to advance in public health. However, America has lacked the investment of infrastructure, according to …show more content…
Since they are able to afford everything they need and want themselves, they become classified as “upper class.” Due to this, these people become more distant from “ordinary people”, which is why these upper class people no longer have empathy for the rest of the lower population that they might’ve once had. In addition, he rich people worry strongly that the government will use its power to “adjust the balance, take some of their wealth, and invest it for the common good.” Stiglitz states, “The top 1 percent may complain about the kind of government we have in America, but in truth they like it just fine: too gridlocked to re-distribute, too divided to do anything but lower

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