The recession has had many implications for Americans and, according to data released by the US Census this month, has further deepened the economic inequality.
The data show that the wealthiest top 5 percent of Americans who earned $180,000 or more had slight increases to their earnings — while families at the $50,000 median level slipped even lower. Additionally, the top 20 percent of Americans who earned more than $100,000 each year received 49.4 percent of all income generated in the US, compared to the 3.4 percent earned by those below the poverty line. For working people 18 to 65 years old, poverty is the highest its been since 1965.
Aside from massive widespread unemployment, the increase in poverty has been caused by another aspect. Wages have stagnated — or even declined. For the first time, Americans can no longer expect that their children will have greater economically mobility.
Since the method for measuring poverty has not changed since 1963 and does not account for the costs of soaring transportation, childcare and healthcare costs, the actual number of Americans living in poverty is probably much higher.
“Income inequality is rising, and if we took into account tax data, it would be even more,” said Timothy Sneeding, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who specializes in poverty.
While President Barack Obama wants to extend the tax cuts for individuals making less than $250,000; Republicans are pushing for permanent tax cuts for everyone, including wealthy Americans. This just highlights the disturbing rate at which wealthy Americans are devouring up this country’s economic pie and the protection they receive while doing so.
This absolutely threatens the American dream.
The data shows that if this was ever true, it certainly isn’t anymore. The harder Americans work, the more they will be met with economic disappointment, such as the protection of the status quo of the wealthy.
What has contributed to this is the personal responsibility crusade lead by conservative politicians who advocate the freedom and responsibility of Americans in making choices for their economic future, further strengthening the misconception of the American dream. Moreover, they seek to protect the wealthiest of Americans. The ramifications of these actions leave Americans in a world of economic insecurity.
Mai Tran is a political science junior and may be reached at [email protected].
It doesn't make Obama's vision any better. And what of those who earned their wealth? Does that entitle non-workers who decide to live simply off welfare to those hard earned riches, even though they didn't put in nowhere near as much effort in accumulating those riches? Better yet what about the middle class? Thats as close to as rich as most of us are going to get and yet we the middle class still get screwed over in Obama's world because we still make too much to be considered poor (I believe a few friends of mine kept roughly 24 to 27% out of the wages they earned and even then they still owed back obscene amounts to the tax man.) But of course thats so we can "spread out the wealth" so other people "can live out the American dream too" right?
I'm all for higher tax rates for the wealthy. For every person I'm sure earned their high income, there's another who inherited their wealth. The idea of "I earned it, so it's mine" still reeks of ignorant apathy; it makes every poor person out there a product of their own laziness. It doesn't take into account poverty traps that keep the poor poor, and the capital that's required to help relieve them of their suffering. It also doesn't take into account the differences between working for wages – cleaning bathrooms, working in construction – versus working for profit – making decisions from a desk in an office.
Yes, let's give people jobs by hiring them to rebuild infrastructure – I am totally behind that. Now we just need money for materials and for wages – but where will all that capital come from? The government. But where does the government get its money? Taxes.
Economic growth does not equal economic equality. But economic equality can certainly aid economic growth.
Thank you, Mai, for spotting what so many people are trying to ignore in the hopes of joining that 5% one day and wasting their money on a collection of cars they'll never drive.
So they didn't earn that money? They didn't push themselves harder than those slacking off during school? Geeze, what were they thinking? Wasting all that time when it surely was for not seeing as they didn't need any of that education, experience, and know-how to make their riches. If that were the case wheres Joe Schmoe's fortunes? Oh wait I guess he already spent all his mad money. Silly me.
I won't argue that there are those who are born into money or inherit it but to say that the rest did not EARN their money is utter nonsense. To say that anyone who did not put in the effort and work to earn that money is entitled to it is even more ridiculous.
It's simply the facts of life sunshine. If that weren't the case then everyone should be rich. Be that as it may though some rich are born into the money or inherit it the fact remains that the family did not get rich just like that, it took effort to create those riches and a means of obtaining those riches (usually either education, hard work, or both.) The poor have means of obtaining those riches, they however did not put in the effort to better themselves. They did not apply themselves in school and educate themselves, they did themselves a disservice in being able to pursuit higher education because of that and in the end for most people (go back a decade or two anyways) screwed themselves out of a degree that would've put them on the right path towards earning those riches with a good job. Even if they did not fully educate themselves there are those who can stumble upon practical ideas or provide a good service better than their competition despite lacking that education and compensate for it with effort and hard work. But most got stuck with dead end jobs. Why is that? Surely a construction worker or a janitor is obviously qualified to be a surgeon or a lawyer, they must have just missed the boat is all. Yeah that must be it.