The Income Inequality Issue in the U.S.
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Currently, the top one percent of all Americans holds about 40% of the complete wealth of the nation. Recent studies have indicated that the biggest income gap in history is having a huge impact on the economy of the United States. This is causing the disappearance of the middle class because of high taxes, regulations that devastate small businesses and regulations that deter risk taking.
Currently, the top one percent of all Americans holds about 40% of the complete wealth of the nation. Recent studies have indicated that the biggest income gap in history is having a huge impact on the economy of the United States. This is causing the disappearance of the middle class because of high taxes, regulations that devastate small businesses and regulations that deter risk taking.
Income inequality, particularly the focus on the 1%, has seen some serious attention in recent years because the President fails to understand that certain people work harder and make better decisions than others make. The issue first gained momentum during the anti-American Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement in 2011, which drew some attention to the economic privilege of the wealthiest 1% but it also drew attention how many young people were unemployed because the President’s policies.
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Nothing New
Despite the strengthening markets (which only really favors the wealthy) and lower unemployment throughout America (which is based on faulty data because these numbers do not reflect the people who are not on unemployment assistance anymore and who have stopped looking for work), the World Economic Forum suggests that the U.S.’s biggest concern in 2015 is income inequality. However, the issue is by no means new – in fact, it has been an issue since the 60s, according to an economics professor from Missouri State, Dr. David Mitchell.
The slowly disappearing middle class is not a surprise considering the insecurity of America’s southern border. Other factors like the Keystone Pipeline delay, the delay in permits for oil drilling off the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, the refusal to allow fracking on federal lands, and states such as New York refusing to allow fracking are putting a lid on the thousands of potential concrete middle class jobs.
A research center survey has discovered that the gap between the poor and the rich is growing larger than ever before. Some people who live in advanced nations are not optimistic about this income equality issue getting any better, and sixty five percent of the people surveyed think that the next generation is going to be worse off. If you look at states such as New York and California, that certainly appears to be the case.
Incomes and the Inequality Gap
Although the income potential for the top 1% of earners in the United States has continued to grow steadily for decades now, the income of those lower down the financial ladder have stayed largely the same. For the majority of people in the United States, wages have stagnated, as prices for everything continue to grow mainly because of high taxes and environmental rules that many people believe are unnecessary and curb business opportunities.
A report from the survey of consumer finances suggests that since the end of the economic recession which, for many, has not really ended, the top 3% of all income earners control about 54.4% of the nation’s wealth. This is higher than the 51.8% they controlled in 2007.
Unimpressive Numbers
In comparison, the bottom 90% control only 24.7% of the wealth. That is down from 33.2% in 1989. According to census data, the medium income by 1993 was approximately $49,594. By 1999, it rose to $56,895 and then dipped once again by 2007, when it was just above $56,000. Now, it is beneath $52,000, which, on top of some of the reasons mentioned above, is a huge strike on the private sector as is the Affordable Care Act that is damaging businesses and full time employment across the landscape.
During the recession, lower income industries accounted for about 22% of the jobs that were lost. Now they make up about 43% of all of the jobs added during the so-called recovery. According to business insiders, if anyone wants to see what works, just see what is happening in Texas and North Dakota.
