How the Rich Benefit from the Poor Essay

The Gilded Age was named by Mark Twain. What he meant by this was that the time period was glittering on the surface, but corrupt underneath. The name suits the time period well; the Gilded Age was a time of economic growth, industrial revolution and wealth, yet beneath the surface of all this the middle and lower classes suffered greatly. The big corporations and the small number of wealthy elites held most of the country’s wealth and the poor were left with barely anything. In other words, in the Gilded Age, the wealthy became wealthier and the poor became poorer.

In Robert Reich documentary “Inequality for All” he makes a compelling discussion about the serious crises that the United States faces due the widening economic gap. He looks to raise awareness of the U.S. economic gap between the rich and poor. According to Reich the widening divide in America is real and growing. Income levels at the middle and labor class is stagnant and are at it’s lowest levels compared to upper class incomes since the beginning of WWII and is growing wider each year. Reich suggests that the economy runs more smoothly when the middle class has jobs with fair wages, when unions are strong, and when middle class workers have some extra money to spend if possible when the government uses the tax policy properly and when it raises the minimum wage regularly to control the income gap between labor and management. In other words Reich argues that economically healthy middle and labor class equality is the foundation of a thriving economy and is necessary to maintaining a sound national infrastructure and educational system within

The report of Robert Reich: “Why the Rich are getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer,” is an eye opener and a warning for society regarding unemployment that it will be facing and is currently facing due to a lack of technology and education. It clearly articulates that the jobs of routine producers and in-person servers have vanished totally as modern techniques have replaced them. The author has stated that the only people whose jobs are on the rise are symbol analysts. As stated in the report, symbol analysts are the real problem solvers. Their skills are highly in demand worldwide because they are the ones who first analyze the problem and then solve it. The Hart Report, on the other hand, also states the same problem of unemployment

A major social problem in America today is its inequality of the distribution of income. "Income inequality refers to the gap between the rich and the poor. The United States has the most unequal income distribution in the industrialized world, and it is growing at a faster rate than any other industrialized country" (Eitzen & Leedham, pg. 37). The main reason as to why income is distributed so unequally is because of the gap between social classes.

Living in different countries, we always wonder if everyday life routines are the same. Some of these routines, would include education, social life, and most important of all career perspectives. Rules and procedures vary from the different business you apply to however do the different rules and procedures vary from the countries that business thrive from? The purpose of this essay is to describe the differences and similarities from the National Association of Social Workers and the International Federation of Social Workers.

Matthew effect has different meaning in each field. For example, in sociology is the where “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” Robert K. Merton states in his book Social Theory and Social Structure “In both its original and typical usage it is meant metaphorically to refer to issues of fame or status but it may also be used literally to refer to cumulative advantage of economic capital” (Merton, 7) Matthew effect or the story of success can be the answer of same question that many people might have. Why some people are more successful than others? The answer couldn’t be just their intelligence or hard working, as Malcolm Gladwell explains in his book. There would be many more reasons to make a person successful. If we want to understand that we shouldn’t just research only about the person, also we need to spend more time and research about everything around him such as culture, family, and their habit. One of Gladwell mention in his book is about the hockey players. The players don’t have same situation and opportunities to be chosen in the team. It is hard to imagine the difference of the age for some months will effect on the young student chance to be elected on the team. As well Barnsley in Outliers argues that “these kinds of skewed age distributions exist whenever three things happen: selection, streaming, and differentiated experience.” (Gladwell, 25) However, Gladwell named many of the elements which will be effective such as date of birth, family, and

The United States debt and defecit is a major problem in our society. One thing I would propose to the President would be to tax the rich. Time. It's useful to keep in mind how the rich are different. When you are poor, you are willing to trade your time to earn money. When you are rich, you trade your money to get more time. For example, the rich hire people to clean their homes, and they don't waste time shopping for bargains. In business school I learned that when people have different preferences, you can usually find a way to engineer a deal. Gratitude. Imagine that the government arranges to provide genuine person-to-person gratitude to the rich in exchange for higher tax rates. Suppose (bad idea alert) the government makes it a

The United States of America was once renowned for and demarcated by the size and successfulness of its middle class. Currently, America faces a shrinking middle class and a new rising oligarchy that is creating the largest wealth disparity in eighty years. Robert B. Reich wrote Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few, for the sole purpose of exposing the reasons why the wealthy get wealthier and poor get poorer. Reich contends that the free market vs government debate serves as a means of distraction, covering up the real issues of the top one percent reaping economic gains. Reich states in the book that the “free market” is a myth that prevents us from examining the rule changes and questioning who they serve. Reich further states “it is no accident that those with disproportionate influence over these rules, who are the largest beneficiaries of how the rules have been designed and adapted, are also among the most passionate supporters of the “free market” and the most ardent advocates of the relative superiority of the market over the government.”

Imagine that you and your next door neighbor were going to run a foot race. Then, your neighbor's friend holds you stationery until your neighbor has completed a great portion of the race. Finally, your neighbor's friend releases you so that you may complete in the race. Sprinting vigorously and freely, it would be nearly impossible to win. Could you win or at minimum, could you be any type of competition? This analogy is equivalent to the governmental position taken in the 1960's particularly 1968—the year that the Civil Right's Act was enacted. But, why mention the Civil Right's Act, everyone is equal now right? Wrong! The act was a success on paper, but failed to do the most important thing, and that is to give people in poverty

American factories can comprise of about up to 1000 workers. If American factories are shut down and moved to other countries, this takes many American people out of work. Companies are now also importing jobs. This is where employers hire people such as immigrants to work less than minimum wage. For that reason, many Americans are stuck with the other minimum wage, and low-paying jobs that barely get them through life. Because of this, many Americans are working full time jobs that are below the Federal poverty line. These types of people are often called the “working poor”. Due to this the working poor have to run to welfare. This affects all Americans because taxpayers are the ones paying for welfare. The more jobs that are taken

The era of volatility has created a shift from America being the middle-class society to simply rich or poor (Sachs, 2011). A gap this large has not been experienced since the 1920’s (Sachs). “The top 1% of households takes almost a quarter of all household income” but an economy this top heavy will not be able to succeed (Sachs, 2011, p. 30). The working classes are struggling with housing, wage, and employment issues. Rich individuals are ignoring these troubles, shipping their business operations out of the country, thus furthering the downward spiral of the economy (Sachs). To make matters worse, this has become in a large part a political issue, because the rich can influence candidates with funding, where the poor and working

Poverty and inequality exist in every developed culture and often are only patched in order for society to continue upwardly. Poverty and inequality in the United States exists for many reasons; reasons that very from the prospective lens. Interpretive theories in particular ask us to question our reality and its constructs. Interpretive theories require us to looks at the world as a social realm, one that we created and constantly change. Interpretive theories study the relationship between power and the construction of social roles as well as the invisible collection of patterns and habits that make up domination, (Delgado & Stefanic, 2001). Susan Kemp argues that the view of the world is dominated by the experiences of white western

Take a moment and picture a child half naked in the streets. His body has been harshly neglected. Little to no calf muscles exist. His ribs are plainly countable. One, two, three up his left side. You can do the same to his right. Malnutrition only vaguely begins to describe his condition. The worst of anorexia doesn’t even compare to this child’s inhumane state. As for shelter, he lives in a dilapidated hut. Food is a luxury, as the child may be fed only three or four times a week. He’s expected to die by the age of five due to severe malnutrition and disease. This is the grim portrait of an Ethiopian child in absolute poverty. His life doesn’t allow for the basic essentials of food, shelter, or clothing.

According to the Solow Growth Model, all countries will eventually converge to their long run steady state. If we consider the usual assumptions, of countries producing the same goods with the same constant returns to scale production technology, using (homogenous) capital and labour as factors of production, differences in income per capita income will reflect differences in per capita capital. Therefore, essentially if capital is allowed to flow freely, new investments should occur only in the poorer economy. However this is certainly not the case in reality. Most of the net capital flow in the past four decades has been north-to-north (rich countries investing in other rich countries), rather than north-south (rich economies investing

Discussing the Obligation to Help the Absolutely Poor The question of who deserves what and who owes what to who is a philosophical question that people unendingly attempt to answer, never coming to a universal and workable conclusion. No matter what outcome is decided upon, someone is destined to be unhappy about it, as unhappiness almost seems to be the defining human condition, with someone always being unhappy about something. However, there are a few who have attempted to answer this question in a reasonable and moral manner, such as Nozick, Singer, and Rachels. Each of these people takes a somewhat different approach to answering this difficult question.