Wage and salary information indicated as a share of GDP. Statistics provided by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
Wages Are Declining
The chart pictured above offers a graphic representation of the trajectory of working people’s wages as a share of GDP since 1950. The downward decline indicates that over the course of the last 30 years since 1970 in particular, economic growth has stalled because people’s earning power and living standards have been eroded. To make matters worse, economic indicators since the Wall Street generated Financial Crisis of 2008 reveal that while the US economy has grown, worker wages have fallen sharply. Those individuals in low to middle income jobs are the ones who are seeing their wages suppressed, while the wages of top earners are reaching all-time highs. The number of workers making $5 million or more grew almost 27 percent since 2009, to 8,982 workers, up from 7,082 workers in 2011. Total wages earned by these highly paid workers grew 40 percent — 13 times the overall increase in compensation for workers.
For over thirty-five years American workers’ wages have been stuck. This comes while we’ve seen tremendous growth in our country’s productivity and soaring corporate profits.
What happened? Why is the middle class dissolving and childhood poverty rising while the economy continues to create more millionaires and billionaires?
The answer is simple. Our elected officials in Washington and across the country have adopted policies, written by the very wealthy, which are meant to ensure that the lions’ share of income growth continues to go to the top 1 percent while the rest of the country is left behind.
Wealth and Perception of Social Inequality
The video below which represents work conducted by a research group at Harvard is troubling for a number of reasons. Not only does it graphically illustrate income distribution and income inequality in the United States, it touch on another important issue – people’s perceptions of inequality. Why is this troubling? Because you can’t fix something if people don’t recognize the nature and depth of the problem.
To be sure, people have a “sense” that something is askew. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll of American adults found that in spite of the fact that the economy is registering record economic gains, 57 percent still think the economy is in recession. This is occuring at the same time that people don’t think social inequiality is a problem. How do we accout for these contradictions? What other social factors combined with a tangible knowledge deficit might be driving these perceptions?
One reason is that there both a wealth and a wage gap.
Robert Reich shared some statistics on social media that were recently published by the French economist Thomas Piketty. Notice how the bar chart dramatically illustrates almost ALL of the economic gains acrued in the recent recovery are going to the top 10%. Almost nothing is acruing to the vast majority of wage earners, who are within their rights to question: economic recovery for who?
To put this in terms Marx would use, the economy is growing, however, the growth is disproportionately accruing to the owners of capital, who are not sharing any of the profits with their proletarian wage earners. When you combine the weak job growth with abundant (increasingly desperate) cheap labor, toxic ideologies about “makers and takers,” “welfare cheats,” and immigration opportunists, the ability to mobilize public action to reverse the policies creating the pattern is virtually impossible.
So Where Are the Jobs?
Americans have for more than 30 years been deceived by the mythical narrative of “trickle down” economics, which assured them that all they had to do was support cutting taxes for the rich, who would in turn take all that money and pass it along to everyone else in the form job creation. The problem, as many economists and researchers note, is that despite all indicators that corporations are reaping record profits, the promised jobs never materialized. Almost none of the profits realized from increased worker productivity from the last 30 years have accrued to workers. All of it went to the owners of capital. Put differently, corporations have realized the profits of their dreams, which they accomplished on the backs of their workers, who made all of the labor concessions, contributed all of the productivity, and assumed more of the public tax burden in order that their employers could achieve these market gains.
Young people are especially hurt by these regressive economic policies. Often scolded and told to “stop whining” and “get a better job,” young people are facing increasing obstacles to realizing their goals and dreams. Much unlike college students who lived in the 1070’s and 80’s, today’s college students are often forced to work full-time while going to school; others who are not favorably positioned to attend college are forced to work a never ending series of unstable low-paid minimum wage jobs that not only don’t confer a living wage, they make it impossible for anyone to “work their way out of it” by getting the education that would permit them to escape that situation.
Discussion Questions:
Based on current demographics, among what social groups do we find wealth concentrated in the United States?
Do you think things like poverty and joblessness are chosen or deserved, due to deliberate choices made by individuals not to work hard, or are there perhaps other social factors that influence these outcomes?
After watching the video, do you think “bootstrapping” individualism alone can keep people out of poverty, or do you think there is a potential role for government to play (through social policy) to control the power of money and capital to make markets serve only the interests of the wealthy?
Do you think social policies should address the problem of social inequality or should everything should be left to “the free market.”
Do you think social policies should only be concerned with equal “opportunity” and not be concerned about unequal outcomes?
Which of your “beliefs” are challenged by what the video portrays?
Why do you think it is more often than not working class people who register the loudest complaint about redistributive politics and programs labeled “socialism” perceived to benefit poor people? Why is there not a similar outrage expressed about the redistribution of middle class wealth to support people who are wealthy (i.e. banks, wall street, etc.)?
Given that most of the wealth is concentrated among the top 1% of wage earners and given that most government and social programs are paid for by wage taxes extracted from the middle class (because neither the very poor or the very rich pay a high percentage of their income in taxes), why are so many convinced that the way to solve fiscal problems is by making poor pay more?
Why do you think that programs that benefit poor people (Food stamps/SNAP benefits) are referred to as “welfare,” but programs that benefit the middle class (home mortgage interest deduction, unemployment compensation), wealthy (capital gains taxes), and corporations (subsidies) are not similarly thought of as corporate “welfare?”
When people think of the word welfare, they think of a poor person using food stamps. This word has a very negative connotation, for those that don’t rely on it, and if it were applied to other programs, then it would make these programs seem lesser than people think of them when they are referred to by their legal name. If they were to refer to every program as welfare then people will think that they look weak and desperate, and that is the last thing that anyone wants to feel. Another reason that this occurs is because the people that are in control of how these things are named (at the start) are people that have power and most likely are not on the traditional welfare. Since they have control they can decide what these programs are referred to as, and since the word welfare has a negative connotation they make sure that no programs that they might need would make them look weak.
The United States takes pride in being the land of equal opportunity, where everyone has a fair chance at success if they work hard and play by the rules. But is this really the truth? Most people work hard but they would never make it to the top.The reason being that you have to be born into wealth to make it to the top. The rich would always have better opportunity because of connections and money of cource.The. Working class do work hard so that their family and children can have a better future but they would never be on the same level as the rich because whatever salary a working lass men make in a month the rich makes in a day. And the working class people are the ones always suffering from an increase in taxes compare to the wealthy.Why is it that working class is always the one suffering when they are the one working harder?
The video was not shocking at all, its more like a wake up call to inform the public on what they thought/ view wealth or wealthy individuals isn’t really the reality. Social mobility is the movement of an individual/ research concentrates on the extent and patterns of vertical movement up and down the occupational structure. The way the system (The government sets up rules and regulations that society has to follow and maintain) is set up in the United States, it allows the rich to stay on top and the poor to remain on the bottom. What is shocking is that the poor and working class are not that well off (far apart from each other). If this continues to happen the 1% will be owning much more than just 40% of America’s wealth, leaving the working class with 0% (nothing). I think its wrong and unacceptable for the vast wealth in the U.S. to be only distributed to wealthy people, meanwhile poor people are struggle to make ends meet and survive in this country. Not everyone can be a CEO and that’s fine, but everyone is entitle to a happy and productive life. I believe that corporate executives should contribute much more to social programs, like welfare because everyone should have access to quality goods and resources. For all those who did not know wealthy people are entitle to funds as well its called wealth-fare. Comes in the form of tax deductions and financial bailouts.
Hello students:
“The idea of the ruling class arein every epoch the ruling idea.” -Karl Marx
I don’t think things like poverty and joblessness are chosen or deserved. There are aways a series of events that results in one living in poverty or being jobless. If an individual does not have the qualification to obtain a job that requires a certain level of education or skills but, yet the position they fill and they work to the best of their ability; who says they aren’t working hard enough? What’s the defination of hard work? Author of Nickle and Dimed: On not Getting by in America, Barbara Ehrenreich objective in the project was to see whether she could match income to expenses, as the truly poor attempt to do. Despite hard work and “holding down” multiple jobs at a time Ehrenreich mobility remains structural. Theorist Karl Marx argued that a person’s social relations to the means of production defines his/her class position. Marx also claimed that the individual’s place in society, relationships to others and outlook on life are shaped by his/her own experience which is a similar narrative to the Relative Deprivation Hypothesis. Yes, there are other social factors that influence the above outcomes.
After watching this video, I am not surprised by how wealth is distributed or depicted like this in America. This is really sad. A lot of people dream to come here and to see this kind of video depicting this, one would ask…”.Why bother?” No one wants to suffer nor struggle and its just sad to see that the rich are squeezing so much out of the middle and lower class. Poverty and joblessness is never chosen nor is it deserved. There are a lot of hard working people in this country and to know that even working harder doesn’t pay off, its barely getting by, or living from pay check to pay check is indescribable. Working harder is only paying off to the wealthy ( the 10%).
I believe Social class, and Social Inequality will always be a problem, but there is always a solution, so hopefully, social policies can intervene for a more positive outlook or out come. Something has to be done.
It was researched some years ago that if we wanted a better Financial State , that we should increase salary. But the big financial system disagrees because the system which they set in place works in favor for the wealthy while the poor struggles. Even today ,they still stand true to their system because they are not interested in a better economy for the state but only for the wealthy.
The situation goes from one extreme to the other. Either your extremely poor or wealthy. The wage gap is mind blowing and it doesn’t seem like things are getting better. To now know that 40% of the wealth in the United States is secured within the top 1% is quite ridiculous. How can anybody other then the “wealthy people” get a fair opportunity in moving up and becoming successful. It’s almost designed to leave us at a standstill in our social class which makes that “American Dream” that we live by invalid.
It doesn’t surprise me about the wealth gaps here in America. It’s a scary fact that the middle class is slowly but surely disappearing. These are one of the consequences of Capitalism. Even though that’s what also makes us the richest nation in the world.
I don’t think poverty and joblessness are chosen or deserved, due to deliberate choices made by individuals not to work hard. There are social factors that influence these outcomes. The video above is statistical proof of this. In one portion of the video it states that the average worker at a firm would have to work more than a month to earn the same amount a CEO would receive in one hour’s worth of pay; and that’s the average worker, not even a janitor. Its sad to actually see how unequally the countries wealth is divided amongst everyone. The people in the top 1% obtain 40 percent of the countries wealth, while the poor and middle class obtain only 7%. I find it even more mind bottling how the video states that the reason the countries wealth can’t be divided equally is because “we have to be encouraged to work”. I believe that that’s a bunch of nonsense, I believe that if the wealth was distributed equally, the poor and middle class would still be encouraged to work because if they don’t they won’t be able to provided for their families. I think the real question is what would the top 1% do if the wealth was distributed equally, would that “encourage them to work” like they suspect the average worker should.
The statistics are alarming. What is even more alarming is that the wealth inequality is getting out of control right under people’s noses. The term “1%” was only interjected into society’s vocabulary even though the policies that have contributed to financial inequality have been occurring for years. Personally, I had no idea of the gravity of the situation and now see myself as exactly one of the low income workers the “1%” designed me to be. Work hard, be willing to work those extra hours, not take a vacation, just to barely get by. Equal opportunity doesn’t mean anything if I can’t even make .001% of what the super wealthy make. I won’t get the same education that wealthy Americans who have been groomed since preschool will get. Instead I rely on public education, and FAFSA. How can there be inequality when the rich make sure the rich stay rich?
What is also baffling is how corporations get bailouts, which is essentially welfare, but someone who needs assistance buying groceries every month is looked down upon. Individuals don’t seem matter in capitalism. It’s okay for government to bail out corporations, because they provide society with something meaningful, but individuals who need assistance are not worth much because what do they contribute? Stereotypes say…nothing.
The social inequality is a big issue we face in this country that definitely needs to be addressed. I don’t believe that social class is deserved because hard work can’t always put you in the social class you desire due to a bunch of other social factors. The video was incredibly shocking because I didn’t realize how the actual distrubution of wealth was here.
In one’s opinion, there is not much wealth in today’s society. There is only income, and probably the reasons many people, who calculate the numbers of wealth and/or income, are convinced that solving fiscal issues should be by making poor pay more is because:
1. they are greedy people who are being paid off by other corporations or
2. they are also confused and may have mistaken their calculations of wealth to income since both revolve about money.
One can say that parents who work hard and get paid in wages alone are not able to provide much wealth to their kids. It is because of the taxes or rate regulations that prohibit them to gain more and end up with less money to provide to their families. From watching the “Wealth Inequality in America” video, one can see how society’s wealth is diminishing each year and showing the 1% to have more money than the rest of the economic class.
Here is a theory as to why we see that solving the fiscal problem is by paying more taxes and rates which causes us to be poor. I hate to say this, but its because people do not know what they are getting in. It’s like you are applying for a credit card, but you only know what the benefits are. The banker, or the person who is trying to sign you up for the card, is very persuasive. As a consumer, we tend to fall for that trap and not read the legal stuff since it is all confusing and boring to read. You may be in a rush to go somewhere and do not have time to read the legal parts that could be helpful. It is the same with us overlooking the fiscal problem. People who are not educated or doesn’t know much about finance and economics go towards to paying the rates, not knowing that they do not really need to pay for them. And why are they uneducated, you may ask? It may be because of the 1% influence in government and education. With the 1% paying off politicians to not support educational reforms, people in urban cities are not getting the proper education that they need compared to the wealthy areas. As a result, people become dumber and get low paid jobs and starts back to the cycle of paying more taxes that limits them to gain wealth. The cycle must be either improved to support the lower and middle class or have it destroyed because people are getting sick of it!
After viewing this video I was not surprisd at all. There’s always going to be an inequality in our society. If you are not brought up in wealth you will have to work harder or find a good connection to be wealthy. However, working hard still won’t gaurentee you would be rich. The governement and the1% don’t even work hard yet their wage still increases. The poor and the middle always suffering and the rich don’t care.
The most wealthy groups can be found among celebrities, politicians, doctors, lawyers, and a few entrepreneurs.
In my opinion, poverty and joblessness are least likely to be because of laziness but environmental factors, lack of opportunities, lack of knowledge and resources and basically jobs just not being available for the working class!
I think the government plays a huge role in controlling the power of money and capital to work for the wealthy. Especially because we depend on our government to provide us with resources and some opportunities and investments. For example, we, students, are depending on our professors to effectively teach us so that we can earn sufficient experience for when we leave the college life. I don’t agree that the government should spoon feed the people but at least give us a chance. Provide equal and fair opportunities that we can attain!
As mentioned in the postings and the video, wealth is normally distributed among the wealthy. Many people believe that to get to the top you have to work hard but it is not only about working hard, it is also about equal opportunity. The people in the top 10% barely work hard and some have barely worked at all. Truthfully, wage earners are the ones working hard to make money for them. I honestly do not understand why social policies do not address such social inequality. No government should be okay with the fact that there are people slaving to make money so they can just “get by.” They make it seem as though they are trying to help by raising taxes for the poor and giving out welfare but why would you want to make people who barely have money pay taxes when paying taxes wouldn’t even make a “dent” in a wealthy person’s bank account. Also, welfare only helps the poor to get by daily while some middle class workers and the wealthy receive benefits (not “corporate welfare”) that helps them gain more money.
We see the wealth in the United States concentrated in the top 1%. Poverty and joblessness are not chosen or deserved. There is a structural problem in our society which allows this phenomena to occur. Social polocies should address the problem of social inequality. The “free market” system has made our economic disparity so enormous, social policy needs to intervene for the interests of the poor. Those of the top 1% have gone too far exploiting the rest of the people and we are tired of it.
Many people think that poor people got poor because they didn’t work hard. I feel that if a person is poor due to bad choices, non work ethics, or generally being bad for society than yes they do deserve their own fate. We all get whast were given and what we can make out of it. People are poor for a variety of reasons, most of which having nothing do with someone not giving them a chance or hand up in life. Some choose to be, some come from broken homes, some make poor choices, some simply are to lazy to apply themselves, and some get involved in addictions or vices, and yes their are a select few who are poor because of poor circumstances, but these type always rise to the top IF they’re persistent and trying to better themselves.
After reading the charts and watching the video, I was very surprised at how much inequality is in our society especially financially. I personally believe it is the government that is responsible for the unfair distribution of wealth especially since a lot of the top 1% have connections with many people that are involved in politics. Therefore, many social policies will favor the wealthy/power elite, whereas social policies should be made to help everyone from the poor to the middle class. In addition, the way our system is today it is difficult for most people who are poor to make a better living because they do not have opportunities and resources as others who are in the upper classes. That is why many in that situation make it by being on welfare, food stamps, and other government assistance. Overall, I believe that is one way the government keeps the poor poorer.
It is terrible to see that the gap between those with money and with no much on their pockets is so far away. However it is even more depressing to see that the low wage salary hasn’t increase not even a little for those who are in needs. I don’t found any explanation to how selfish some people are; that they don’t care about others. Society hasn’t changed its slavery system because people are found in the necessity to work for little money to cover their needs. Meanwhile on the high strata people take advantage of the poor people in order to satisfy their selfishness and foulness of having more and more every day.
I think poverty and joblessness is neither chosen nor deserved. It really all boils down to the scarce resources that are given to the less well off. If you are born into a wealthy family, you reap the benefits of many resources given because of your family’s status. Poverty and joblessness is based on the social environment someone is in. If you reside in a poor run down neighborhood, people suffer to get themselves out of such circumstances. After watching and analyzing the video of the distribution of wealth, it is completely unethical. These big CEOs are watching their bank accounts skyrocket due to the hard work put in by the lower and middle class working people. The CEOs put money in to create such business but the business would not thrive at all if it wasn’t for the lower and middle class people working for them. Sure these CEOs create jobs, but that can mean very little based on the way they treat their employers and how much these people get paid. How does that even work? I mean are we suppose to clap and pat the CEOS on the back and say thank you so much for creating more jobs for us lower and middle class folks, I think not. In my thoughts, CEOS are just saying lets open these big business and pay these lower and middle class people little while we sit back and watch our accounts rise and rise. From a very young age in America, you are made to believe that with hard work and dedication you are guaranteed success and wealth. You are conditioned to believe that the key to the American Dream is hard work. I do believe hard work can pay off and that going to school is important, but the way things are set up it almost seems impossible for these statements to be completely true. So many people who work hard and go to school believing this will benefit find that things are not as easy as once thought. So many hardworking people are struggling and living paycheck to paycheck. I believe that poor and middle class will still suffer while the upper class and the 1% continue to swim in their money. It will take a lot for things to change, if people are wanting to see social equality.
This video clearly highlights the unequal distribution of wealth and wages in American society. Becoming wealthy in this country can not only be chalked up to just hard work and perseverance. Policies in the government are aiding in making sure the top 1 percent stays wealthy and that the poor stays is their rightful position at the bottom. Generational wealth will always be perpetuated in our society until the working class and the poor take steps in organizing themselves to stand against this capitalistic government. What we as Americans think is the distribution of wealth is and the actual reality of the distribution wealth are completely distorted. We don’t seem to realize how much power and wealth the top 1 percent really possess. Before watching this video I knew that the wealthiest Americans had more money than i could ever imagine but i did not realize that they possessed at least 24 percent of the nations wealth while the poor and middle class only posses 7 percent of the nations wealth. Despite the fact average workers are the back bones of society it would take them a month to make what the CEO makes in an hour. I find this fact very disheartening because even if you are a hard worker in society you are not being paid a wage that you deserve. The poor people are being exploited while the rich get richer.
First, the distribution chart is scary. by 20007 the bottom 90% is practically gone.
2nd: We tend to associate wealth with occasion groups, but from my experience Asians are up there too. Seeing this from parts of my family and familys’ friends.
3rd: As for poverty and joblessness, I don’t think it’s a choice for many people. Things happen and sometimes getting back on track is near impossible. Some people however have choices such as help from many agencies to better themselves and it might be due to fear of failure, they do choose not to work or do things that better them like go to school.
I definitely think that the belief we have instilled, that you must work hard to get to the same level as the wealthy, I do not think that is entirely true. I think other factors contribute to the reason why the poorest Americans are down to pocket change while the top 1% has 90% of the wealth. Now don’t get me wrong, laziness is not condoned here, you do have to work hard to get what you need. However, sometimes you can work as hard as you can, and still not make ends meet or move up the totem pole so to speak. And I do think that one of the ways this can be somewhat changed to fit “What Americans Think” the distribution of wealth is through some social policy. A social policy in favor of a more fair and reasonable distribution of wealth.
From the chart and the video above it clearly show all the wealth in this country is distributed to the top 1%.
I don’t think things like poverty and joblessness are chosen or deserved, due to deliberate choices made by individuals not to work hard I do believe there are other factors that influence poverty for example lack of recourses such as affordable education, child care and housing etc. After watching the video I believe the government plays a major role in why the wealth in this country is extremely disproportionate due to the social policies that’s enforced. The saying the rich is getting rich and the poor is getting poorer it’s the sad truth. I believe social policy should address the problem of social inequity because it is more likely a change would occur if the government implements social policies that helping people with lower economic status. Social policies should concentrate on equal “opportunity” and unequal outcomes because you cant focus on equal opportunity with out focusing on what would happen if equal opportunity is not offered to all I believe focusing on both end of the septum can bring more understanding to the over all issue. Before watching this video I was totally blind on how the wealth was distributed in this country I would have to say this video was very informative. Programs that benefit poor people (Food stamps/SNAP benefits) are referred to as “welfare,” but programs that benefit the middle class (home mortgage interest deduction, unemployment compensation), wealthy (capital gains taxes), and corporations (subsidies) are not similarly thought of as corporate “welfare?” I believe it because programs such as unemployment, mortgage interest deductions, etc are offered to Americans that “WORK” for what they have and programs such as SNAP, is considered welfare programs because essentially those kinds of programs are available to Americans that “doesn’t work” so its consider a welfare program.
After reviewing the video and my experience with learning about social inequality. It still exists and in my opinion, it will continue to exist if there is nothing being done about the inequality we face. The way wealth is distributed in the United States is unfair. Middle class and lower class individuals work day to day jobs working hard to pay off life expenses. Sometimes the pay does not help as much and people work even harder to just be comfortable. The lower and middle class only receive 7% of the wealthy that is distributed among both groups. CEO’s get 24% of the wealthy . That is unfair because why is it that middles class gets such a lower percentage and the ones receiving 24% do not necessarily need it. The government pushes us back from living that luxurious lifestyle and being comfortable. They rather us struggle to get the things that we need in order to survive. Something has to be done to get this society to be on its on feet rather than us scraping our knees.
Wealth is mostly concentrated amongst the Top 1% in the United States. I believe that poverty and joblessness are not chosen or deserved. While I do believe some have more motivation then others social factors influence outcomes such as poverty and joblessness. At times, people live in environments where very few opportunities are provided for them and lack of education is a social factor that influences those outcomes as well. I also believe that the government is responsible for playing a potential role through social policy to support the growth and progression of those in the lower and middle class and not just the top 1%. Social policies should also address the problem of social inequality to provide equal opportunity and make finances, opportunities, and resources attainable. Social polices should also be concerned with unequal outcomes to ensure the integrity of the government. None of my beliefs are challenged by that the video portrays. While I do tend to believe that hard work , determination and education can help one succeed. There are still social factors and social policies that will always result in unequal outcomes for those in the lower class. I think outrage about programs that benefit both the lower class are both expressed. But, outrage against the lower class is heard more often because those who are in power are the ones who express opposition. It is irrational for people to think that the way to solve fiscal problems is by making poor pay more. People think that way because of inequality and the desire to keep social control. Also, programs that benefit poor people are referred to as welfare because there is a negative stigma placed on poor people who need support from the government.
I think that people in poverty sometimes is not at fault for their situation and is more about how the economy cant supply enough job. people who have a college education are finding it hard to survive in the united states due to the lack of opportunity , that shows you how even thought they work hard in college to get there degree it didn’t help them out because opportunity is essential what get people jobs and there isn’t much of that. some social factors that can attribute to people in poverty is the economy status they were born in. If you are born in a rich family you are more likely to be more financially stable than a person who is born in a middle class or poor family. so its not always that people don’t work hard its other factors that can hold you down. another thing is the top 5 percent of America gets to much of the wealth which fuel poverty where there is great profit there is a greater deficit.
There is a significant amount of inequality in the way that wealth is distributed here in the United States. As we saw in the past video, the top 1% has almost 40 percent of the wealth whereas the poor and middle class families do not even have enough money to appear on the graph. Middle class individuals are working hard and making enough just to survive and support their families. With such an inequality in the income distribution, it is impossible to have the luxury life style that is portrayed in news and the media. There needs to be a significant reform in the way that both power and wealth are distributed in our society.
This is the second time I come across this video. This video puts into perspective the way most of us think the wealthy is distributed amongst us. The reality is that we the poor and middle class aren’t getting more money; we only get 7 % of the wealthy that has to be distributed between both groups. While the CEO also known as the 1% get 24% of the wealthy. This is insane, it is very sad to know that they get such a high percent when in reality they don’t need it. Americans (especially the poor) have to work 7 days a week to make ends meet, while a CEO works less hours and is still making millions. The poor and middle class both stay the same; they don’t see an economic growth. The wealthy 1% sees a growth in their value. Why can’t they be fair and realize they don’t need the money as much as we do. What I find to be very disturbing is that in reality a CEO is not working 365 days a year to make money, the workers behind him (his employee) do all the work for him and make minimum wage. This is very unfair and what is really sad is that it will never change. In a weird way the government wants us to stay poor; this is their way of them having control over us.
I think it is unbelievable that rich continues to become more richer, while the working class people are at stand still. The middle and lower class people work very hard to see no results. They are led to believe that if continue to work hard they will eventually become successful. which in actuality is a lie. The rich people either believe those who are poor made bad decisions, are uneducated, or choose to be poor and want to live off the system. Which is not the case for all working class folks. These people strenuous hours and conditions to make chicken change. Also barely making minimum wage at some of these jobs. But you want these working class people to shop and buy all the latest in the department stores. How is this possible when working class folks most of the time. Either do not have sufficient money to pay their bills yet alone have a decent plate of food to eat. It is very unfair and needs to be addressed by the big men who deal with all the money and economists.
I used to think that America was a wealthy country and everyone was rich but when I came to United Stated I see that it’s not true.not true.However,I thought maybe if you work hard and if you get an education therefore,later on you can become rich.After watching this video,It changed the way I thought about America completely .knowing that 1% of America have 40% of the wealth makes me don’t want to work hard anymore.It is sad because that 1% is for the millionaires and they barely work hard ,they used us poor and middle class people to work for them and the sad thing is they are the one that’s getting all the wealth.I think the only way to get rich is that you have to have connection and or you have to be rich already that’s sad.
When seeing and hearing things like this its hard to understand why so many people want to come to this country. Everyone wants the American dream, but what does that mean? Does it mean being treated unequal due to you social class. Does it mean that even though u work hard to “prosper” the CEO of your company is still making 380 times more that you do. That does not define land of opportunity. If we did have opportunity there wouldn’t be so much of a gap between classes. Welfare for the middle class and welfare for the poor in my opinion is the same thing. I think the problem is like always the government loves to hide the truth from the public and if these tax cuts for the rich get called “welfare” then they will retaliate resulting in the government loosing their precious money.
his is the second time I have come across this video, the first time was in my Social Work 203 class. Just seeing this makes my perception of reality change. It makes me feel that only we are the ones who see the truth. The upper class does not even care to question the truth of the wealth distribution. This system is unfair and will always remain unfair. We allow ourselves to believe, if you work hard, you will benefit at the end. It is always a benefit to work hard, but how hard do you have to work to get in the upper class? Let us take Beyoncé for example, I adore Beyoncé, but what separates her from us? Is it her talents? Or is it her history with working inside the industry? The only “talent” I have is my Commercial Arts Certifications, and that alone is not enough to push me up in the wealth scale. We as a nation are allowing the richer to get richer and we sit back and watch ourselves get poorer. They are living the “American Dream” while we are camping out on their American Lawn. However, the poor faces many hardships when it comes to the economic slate, it leaves them in a very harsh financial predicament. Once being in that predicament, society looks at the poor as being “non-motivated”. Although we have a middle-class, the upper class’ shadow overpowers both the lower class and middle class. The middle-class is no longer working towards the American Dream, they are working to avoid being in the lower class. Take this video as a way to warn us and let us know what we are doing wrong. It is time to give ourselves social equality and stray away from all the inequality.
Where is Robin Hood?
Poor: Society has chosen many different names to describe poor: like, impoverished, poverty-stricken, deprived, needy, indigent, and the list goes on. Instead of looking for different ways to define poor, the focus should be on, changing the dated poverty line. Looking at the chart in the video, the upper one percent stole; or acquired the majority of wealth in this country, knocking the poor right off the chart below the poverty line. Food, health care, housing, and lack of jobs is on the rise, poverty guidelines only make matters worse people are being pushed into the streets, poverty guidelines need to be abolished. The rich and wealthy need to pay taxes, middle class should pay less taxes. Enough is enough.
I have seen this video in my other Sociology classes, and even though this video was done years ago, its accurate and we are seeing and living this today. The wealth distribution is not only unfair and not equal yet it is hurting the country in a whole. its a domino effect of catastrophes just waiting to happen. A picture and graph alone will only show and represent that the US citizens are suffering..if not just look outside walk around your neighborhood and you will see it for yourself. As the speaker said ” we are just making it by” ,is it fair? defiantly not.. yet what can we do to fix the problem.
Living cost is getting super dumb expensive yes i said super dumb, and wages are remain the same..Two years ago I asked my boss for a raise and he gave me a look as if I had a 3rd eye even though he gave me that wonderful 1.00 raise yes i am being sarcastic. its not enough. I am still struggling.I might have to ask for another.I have rent, expenses, no tutition so everything is out of pocket,etc..Even though there are ways to make extra money trust me I have been tempted I like to sleep in peace.Hopefully it gets better for all ..
The current demographics demonstrate that the wealth only goes to those that are on top of the capital market. Also that the distribution is extremely unequal the video shows that the top 20 percent of Americans have more then what Americans believe they should have. Also in the other example they show is that 54 trillion what was earned in the United States and they showed that if the US had socialism it would not work because if everyone had the same wages there wouldn’t be any motivation to work according to the video. The ideal wage would be very beneficial to everyone because it would keep everyone off of poverty. Socialism would benefit the poor because they earn so little compared to everyone else. They sometimes don’t even have enough to enjoy the basic needs. So many people are convinced that the way to solve fiscal problem is to make the poor pay more because they know that the rich has power and they don’t want to give up more of their money and since the laws favor them they know they don’t have to either. I believe that programs for the middle class or not considered welfare programs although they really are because the idea of welfare to many people is just stem on this notion of donation or hand out which is far beyond the truth. This is because welfare in institutionalized and they have a certain criteria that needs to be met to decide who is eligible also welfare is not always about money that is what many people actually believe that all services deal with money but the other services include programs that held aid a person who don’t believe they are not autonomous enough by their own perspective or the perspective of another.
I believe all the financial and economic assistance the wealthy and rich get should be considered “welfare.” Society puts a bad stigma on the word “welfare” and only associate it with the poor and the needy. They utilize these terms making the poor and needy feel inferior. It’s sad to see an imbalance of wealth in this country. The cost in living is going up but wages are stalled. The top 1 percent of wage earners possess the majority of the wealth and I was shocked to find out the actual numbers in our first class lecture/discussion. I dislike the fact that the money is doing the talking when it comes to these issues.
I agree with Dymon about assistance to the rich and middle class being considered welfare as well. Unfortunately it would never be. In this country the rich are viewed as working hard all of their lives, and their riches being the result of that work paying off. Therefore- assistance for them is considered a reward for being great Americans and living out the American Dream. The middle class are viewed as those who work hard because they are striving for something better and want to be where the rich are. Therefore- assistance for them is considered due, or deserved because of their efforts. The poor, regardless of what hardship(s), social or economic factors that contributed to our financial state, are automatically viewed as being poor because we chose to be or because we are lazy. Therefore- any assistance given to us is considered to be a handout because we are not thought of as contributing anything substantial enough to this society to be worthy of it.
I agree with both of you. it is the second time that I come across this video as well, the first time I saw it was in my social welfare policies class when we were discussing “culture of poverty” which main idea is that poverty is pass down from generation to generation and if a person born in poverty is less like to conquer those barrier than any other . also we touch upon the bad stigma that society puts on the word “welfare”, and the stereotype associated with the word along with the ideology that welfare halts self-improvement. however, institutional discrimination and exploitation is how rich benefit by keeping the poor, poor. The wage gap and inequality in our social and economic systems can be corrected only by governmental intervention.
This reality it’s extremely scaring. We live in a busy society where people just focus in working hard trying to achieve their goals, but falling down in their try. Inequality in America doesn’t need to be shown in a graph or be told by anybody , Americans experience inequality every single day. This society has become a surviving society. People are challenge to overcome expensive life style, with insignificant pay wages. The government won’t do anything to improve the lives of the poorest group. Americans need to wake up and understand that our economic situations is not getting any better. Money meant power and only a very small percent is having the power and controlling the majority of Americans who are left behind with their dreams.
Just based on the wage and salary line graph you could see that the people of today are doing far worst compare to the people of the past especially from 1970. Americans would like an equal distribution of wealth to show an equal America. What Americans would like is very far from reality or even what we think the distribution of wealth is. The bottom 40% of people in the wealth distribution are barely on the chart because the top 20% have a lot more than they should have. One of the most shocking things for me that was stated in the video is that republicans and democrats had the same ideal view of how the wealth should be distributed. It was shocking to me because that’s not what I thought they would agree on especially the republicans. I thought the republicans would have wanted more money distributed to those who were already rich. It’s sad that 1% of America have 40% of its wealth. I just don’t understand how this is acceptable. I think that there is not a similar outrage for the distribution of wealth to middle class in comparison to the poor because they see things differently. The middle class think that they work hard enough for the benefits and that the poor don’t deserve it because they did not work for it. I’m not sure on why people think to fix the fiscal problem is to make the poor pay more. It is not very logical but I guess whatever it takes so the people at the top are not directly affected. The saddest part of all of this is not knowing how to fix it and if it’s even fixable. Also wondering how your very own future is going to look financially.
That is interesting, right? The idea that a lot of Republicans and Democrats want the same things, but can’t agree on the policy decisions to get them there. But I also think it speaks to the differences between what lawmakers want and what’s good for them vs. what constituents want/need. Increasingly, the former demonstrate that “money talks.” Corporate “citizens” have a lot more money to buy votes and get what they want from lawmakers than do individual voters.
Who are we to blame? is it the rich and powerful? or the greed stricken lawmakers, and politicians. This is a vicious cycle that will continue to go on until this distribution of wealth is 60 percent rich and wealthy, and 40% poor, maybe then we will all collectively fight back.
Well, first you have to know that “things are not what they seem.” The distribution of assests in society, as indicated by the video, is not a simple reflection of who works hard/smart; it’s a reflection of social policy tilted to benefit the wealthy. Likewise, it’s not the case that most people are doing “okay” in the country. Many, in fact, are hurting. Nevertheless, a sufficent number of people getting crushed by this system think that if we just keep on keeping on…give rich people more tax breaks…power of positive thinking…hit lotto, etc. things are bound to get better. Research says this is not likely to happen. If people don’t wake up to this reality and do something about it, it’s only going to get worse. A lot worse.
Wealth wages and social inequality
My primary concern in the article is the unequal distribution of wealth. The graph clearly shows the seriousness of income inequality. One can easily say that our society is terrible inequality, and only a small percentage of people have the money and high income. Some people hold more wealth than others. They have opportunity to go to expensive university, and get higher education. This inequality gives the wealthy more and more advantage so that the rich can set up business and earns a higher income; while most families receive low income, struggle to survive, and send their children to non-reputable community college. These problems lead to poor underclass, poverty, income equality, and eventually would lead to a class revolution. This inequality gives the wealthy more and more advantage so that the rich can set up business and earn a higher income, while the poor struggle to survive.
I agree with you Carline the rich have the money to send their child to the top universities rather or not the child even deserves to be there. In this world money means power, once you have the power you could make as much connections as you want which would be mutually satisfying for you and the other person involve. While the poor struggle to make ends meet not just for themselves but for their kids to have a better future as well. Some people never make it to the top not because they are lazy but because they were dealt with the wrong set of cards call life.
It is sad to see and to know that the 1 percent is the one draining the poor. That is why when I hear about celebrities giving to charities… pleassse we all know that what they give to charities the money ends up back in their pockets. Of course, the “Welfare” term is a stereotype by the greedy rich people. They are always trying to make themselves look like they are the only hardworking. The poor will always be blamed for the condition they are in just like domestic violence victims are blamed for staying in the relationship. That is why there has to be people that represent the poor and speaking for the middle class.
The 99% we call America is the working poor. I try not to think about this scary reality, it makes my blood boil to imagine celebrities and CEO’s making millions a year. Out of 300 million Americans you think the distribution of wealth would be at least somewhat balanced. So many of us are fighting to get by while these special few earn in one hour, the months salary of their employee.
How, when, where & why
Capitalism is !!!!@!#@$@$#%$%
MIND BOGGLING!!!!!!
Indeed, it is mind boggling to say the least.
Wealth is really concentrated in the United States because one percent of the population has about three quarters of the wealth.. That is really profound because in the demographic area the working class hjas experties that they could invest/start small businesses and have capital turning over.However maybe because of fear they do not move forward. This could be due to the fact that it goes back to our ancestors when Willie Lynch (the west Indian plant owner messed up the peoples thoughts that they should not trust each other but trust the white man exclusively.
The social programs created to benefit the poor and the programs created to benefit the middle class are referred to by different names in order to create an idea false idea of “entitlement” among the higher social classes. Whenever social programs are created to assist the poor, the “Media” creates an image of the poor as people who are “lazy” and choose not to work to contributes to society. This demographic are now considered “unworthy of assistance”. When referring to the middle classes, it becomes acceptable to assist that classes of people because they are “more deserving” based on their social economic status. Labeling people according to their social economic status begins to marginalize people into a specific class and deny them what is offered to the higher classes.
The first time I say this video was in my Social Work Social Welfare and Policy class and I was appalled that the distribution of wealth was unfair. I perceive I was blinded by the ideal perception of wealth rather than the reality. I question how is it possible that the income of the top one percent was able to triple throughout the years. It is upsetting that no matter how hard you work you will not be compensated to the full extent. From young you are brainwashed with the idea of the “American dream” that if you work hard you will achieve more. However, the video explained that it takes an average employee a month to earn what the CEO makes in an hour. When it can be proven that the average employee works more than the CEO in terms of hours. Initially, that employee is the muscles of the corporation and the CEO is the face but the employee does not get rewarded equally for the manual labor due to the uneven distribution of wealth.
It is very surprising to know that in the United States, people are being categorized by their social class status. As a consequence, the wealthy class or the top 1% of U.S. citizens are getting paid as many times as the working class. At first, before I watched the video, I never thought that there was a huge difference of wages and income between the low, middle, and high class individuals. It is shocking to me that many Americans didn’t know about the vast differences of wages and income between the high class and the working class. This video reminds me of how many people from outside countries, such as the Dominican Republic, wished that they leave their country and live in the United States, but they don’t have the understanding that the working class is suffering due to the fact that they have to pay more taxes compared to the wealthy people. Due to the social inequality of the social classes, our future generation will be suffering from worse conditions based on the tax increases and the recession.
I do believe that the extensive amount of assistant that the wealthy recieve should be considered welfare. It is conceptually strange that the middle class, which is dissapearing drastically is paying for the poor people while the wealthy one percent pay less tax even though they own majority of the countries money. It is sad that many people are not aware of the hostile reality of our financial inequality.
It is very surprising to know that in the United States, people are being categorized by their social class status. As a consequence, the wealthy class or the top 1% of U.S. citizens are getting paid as many times as the working class. At first, before I watched the video, I never thought that there was a huge difference of wages and income between the low, middle, and high class individuals. It is shocking to me that many Americans didn’t know about the vast differences of wages and income between the high class and the working class. This video reminds me of how many people from outside countries, such as the Dominican Republic, wished that they leave their country and live in the United States, but they don’t have the understanding that the working class is suffering due to the fact that they have to pay more taxes compared to the wealthy people. Due to the social inequality of the social classes, our future generation will be suffering from worse conditions.based on the tax increases and the recession.
Knowing that 40% of the wealth in the United States is secured within the top 1% of the population is so disturbing. How can a country that was supposedly built to allow opportunities for everyone continue to oppress the oppressed. It truly reflects negatively on us as a whole to encourage children that are poor and living in poverty to strive to be the best citizens they can be for our country when their best efforts will never be good enough to have the type of success that is horded by the elite 1%.
Incentives that the rich receive and programs for the middle class will never be labeled welfare because they feel that they are worthy to receive such entitlements due to their success and risks they have taken to become successful. Of course the tax dollars that are redistributed for the needy will always be seen as handouts to belittle the recipients and keep them feeling a sense of shame and depression. The sad part is that those that consider themselves in the middle class don’t even see that they too are only a pay check away from being poor in this country.
It blows my mind to see the wage gap between the wealthy and the poor. Evidently, in the United States, wealth is concentrated mostly among the upper/elite social group or the top 1 percent of wage earners. Often the rich complain about programs labeled “socialism” that distribute wealth for the poor but when it comes to wealth being distributed among the wealthy, who can afford it, there is no complain. Not to mention, the extra perks that the elite social groups enjoys even though they could afford it. The notion of making the poor pay more to solve fiscal problems is nothing but exploitation and oppression of the poor.
Dear all,
It is shocking to realize that the country I thought perfect for me to make my way up has an economic system that will not allow me to go up. It is unfair that outliers at the curve (very poor and very rich) do not pay as much taxes as the middle class. People should pay taxes based on their earning making it a linear increasing curve. The term welfare has a stigma attached to it. Therefore, benefits for the middle and upper classes have a different name. Basically, these classes do not want their government involvement called welfare because that is for the poor. It is hard, but as the video mentioned, we do not need to implement socialism, but have a fairer distribution of wealth. Hopefully, there is change soon.
Thanks,
Tracy Mejia