Income Inequality

Executive Compensation. I’m in agreement with Thomas Piketty that the one cause of rising inequality in the United States “the rise of supersalaries” for top executives (Piketty & Goldhammer, 2014, p. 298). The average American estimates CEO to worker pay ratio at about 30-to-1, which is more than 4 times what they believe to be ideal. The career review site Glassdoor reported from 2014 data that the average pay ratio of CEO to median worker was 204-to-1 and that at the top of the list, four CEOs earn more than 1,000 times the salary of their median worker with the very top pay ratio of 1,951-to-1. In some cases a CEO makes in one-hour what it takes the average employee six-months to earn. In comparison, the Washington Post reported for the

In Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore, Robert H. Frank paints a picture to the reader about the struggles of pier pressure. For example: an upper-classmen chooses to buy a big house and fancy clothing. This acts as a “frame of reference” to the changes and norms of the society. If he spends money on something nice, a middle-classmen will then go and decide to do the same thing, and then a lower-classmen…all the way down the social hierarchy. This is what he calls an “expenditure cascade.” Robert relates this with a person’s downfalls, which can be traced due to lower income inequality. Income inequality basically means that in a given quantity, the dispersion of income is underlined by the gap between individuals and or households with

The issue of income inequality in the United States is complicated and does not have a definite answer. Income inequality can be measured in a few different ways. The first measurement for the income inequality in a country is to look at the percentages on households and group them into income categories, called distribution by income category. The second measurement for income inequality is called distribution by quintiles or fifths. This is when you divide the total number of people, households, families into five groups called quintiles to examine the percentage of total before tax income received by each quintile. Each quintile would then be ordered by income and households in the category.

Income Inequality is a major problem that has been going on in America for decades. Many people feel that it barely exists today, but those people are very uneducated and don’t really care about the huge problem in front of them the many people that feel that way are highly uneducated, and seem to not really care about which has been gradually increasing instead of decreasing. Unfortunately, there’s not much that can be done, only of course if the poor class of people decide to actually educate themselves and get a higher education. One says poor class, simply because that’s how they’re classified. There are five types of levels that Americans are classified as, and they are: Upper Class, Upper Middle Class, Middle Class, Working Class, Poor. The highest percentage of Americans fall in the Poor department, and it has been that way for decades, and will continue to be that way for decades to come.

Amongst all of the presidential candidates of the 2016 race, one in particular stands above the rest. Bernie Sanders, running as a democrat, holds the highest capability to better the nation amongst all other candidates.

A deafening and persistent roar reverberates against the glass walls, around the stone columns and through the rows of American flags, which billow above the financial hub of the United States. A sea of tens of thousands of American citizens begins below the iconic black and white sign that reads “Wall St”, and extends beyond the end of the block, filling each and every square inch of space in-between. Over and over again, in unison, they chant “We are the ninety-nine percent!” and collectively form a voice that is heard not just throughout the stock exchange, or the city of New York, but throughout the entire country and the world. Occupy Wall Street was a movement that brought together members of the “99%” — the bottom ninety-nine

In any given population, there is a difference between what people within the population earn. The uneven distribution of income in any given population is income inequality. In order for there to be income, there has to be several sources of income. These sources of income may be combinational or independent per person receiving the income. Income may result from wages, rent, bank account interests, salaries or even profits made in business transactions ( Stiglitz, 2012).

Imagine that the U.S economy is a group of ten people making a cake. Despite the fact that everyone contributed, one person would take 90% of the cake. The other nine would be left to fight over the renaming 10%. In what universe would this be a fair situation.

There is not a consensus with regard to which are the most important jobs; for e.g. bankers are paid very well but most people would probably argue that nurses are more important to society. Some groups start with more power and status and are therefore are able to ensure they and their children get access to the education that will mean they then get a higher status jobs. Life chances are affected by status and wealth and the poor have less access to opportunity to gain access and wealth. Tumin argued that going to universities is not really a sacrifice, although many people in the UK would probably argue it will be as fees go up. The work of the functionalists is not supported by empirical evidence, particularly with regard to the idea that there is a value consensus.

Inequality is not favorable in society. There is inequality in many aspects of our society, such as race, and gender. The main inequality we look at is income inequality in the United States. The one percent of the population control a vast majority of the United States currency. The Gini coefficient has been increasing ever since the Industrial Revolution, a period where education, manufacturing, and economics has shown growth. However, income inequality has increased in the Industrial Revolution. There are many events, and causes that have led to the rise of income equality in the United States.

The United States of America is vastly known for their rugged individualism. That is, the fascination with the belief that hard work and the free market will allow an individual to rise to the top. Since many of us were small children, we were told by our parents to pursue a college education, and once that is done, then our lives will fall into place.

Income inequality is fair and trying to close the income gap is making the economy worse

The distribution of income in the United States, is a growing controversy. Far left and far right groups have distinctly differing opinions on income inequality and whether it is beneficial or detrimental to the economic growth of the nation. Mainstream politics, however, tend to be relatively devoid of discussion about the extreme wealth gap. The rising levels, factors, and opinions of income inequality as well as methods of income redistribution will be discussed.

Income inequality has been a major concern around the world, and it mainly links to how economic metrics are distributed among individuals in a country. Economists generally categorise these metrics in wealth, income and consumption. Wilkinson and Picket (2009) showed in their studies that inequality has drawbacks that lead to social problems. This is because income inequality and wealth concentration can hinder or delay long term growth. In 2011, International Monetary Fund economists showed that less income inequality increased the duration of countries’ economic growth spells more than free trade, low government corruption, foreign investment or low foreign debt (Berg and Ostry, 2011).

Income inequality has been a major issue in American history. There are many different factors that contribute to inequality. These include education, wealth, discrimination, ability, and monopoly power.