Could the rich control on how inequality affect the American economy? While, many Americans are facing unemployment; the rich are getting wealthier. The management of successful companies are taking avenge of the working class to apply less labor to achieve high profit for themselves. In Up Against Wal-Mart, Karen Olsson explores on how Wal-Mart are being unfair to their employees. The upper management are under paying and asking their employees to work extra hours with not paying them for those hours. Even if the employees try to unionize and fight for their rights, Wal-Mart fights back on stopping any unions forming. On the other hand, David Leonhardt in Inequality Has Been Going on Forever…but That Doesn’t Mean It’s Inevitable explores on …show more content…
Loenhardt has learned from Piketty that whatever the investment that the rich are doing has a tendency to have positive returns. Piketty uses a formula (r > g) on how the amount of return to the capital can increase economy growth. However, there are things that can effect this formula; war, depression, and income or wealth are taxed on high rates are some effect that can cause unbalance economy (545). After Piketty’s points out his ideas, Leonhardt believes that the wealthy can effect inequality. Leonhardt stated, “The fact that the rich earn enough money to save money allows them to make investments that other people simply cannot afford” (545). So, only the people with money have control of the American economy. While, the lower class should make sure the wealthy gets wealthier or else our economy with become unbalance. Now with Olsson assistance, the reader understands Leonhardt’s article that it is possible to succeed in American and Sam Walton is a good example but to be successful people must short change others that come in their way. This is a negative way of seeing how success can be achieved but it is reality on how America’s society is at this moment. People can only do their best and try to gain success, just aware that the wealthy don’t like newcomers to their play …show more content…
Leonhardt believes that taxes can effect on how inequality can be persuade in different directions in the American economy. He even stated, “A true attack on inequality would require that the country move the issue to the center of every political debate: how we tax wealth, how we tax the income of the middle class and poor (often stealthily through the payroll tax)” (547). In short, not only is the middle or lower class Americans are taxed; even the wealthy are taxed but it is a huge argument on how tax should be divide up. However, a high percentage of tax is on the middle and lower class payroll. The wealthy will try and manipulate laws so that they won’t be taxed as much. Viewing this argument through Olsson’s article, give the reader a hint on how Wal-Mart deals with them being taxed. They find way to manipulate their employees in working extra time without paying them for those extra hours. This way if they don’t pay their employees those extra hours they won’t be taxed for it and even gain a profit as well. In the end the lower class will loss and not have a fighting chance against powerful retail company like
Surowiecki recalls a time in American history where workers needing to support their family were paid accordingly. However, in today’s market, the economy tends to benefit upper class individuals to a greater extent. Peter Drucker is
Paul Krugman author of the article “Confronting Inequality” stresses the inequality of our social classes in the United States, he uses statistics to demonstrate the staggering consequences of this inequality within our social classes. Krugman emphasizes the fact that a majority of our wealth is owned by about one percent of the population, which is leaving the middle and lower class at an extreme disadvantage. One example Krugman uses is education; children that have wealthy families, have a higher percentage of finishing college than those of lower income families, proving the statement that Krugman was accentuating, “Class-inherited class- usually trumps talent.” The parents within this middle to lower class have been exceed their financial
In her essay “Up Against Wal-Mart,” Karen Olsson claims that the employees of Wal-Mart are mistreated. They are overworked; each has to perform a plethora of duties because their stores are understaffed. She contends that they are not paid according to their heavy work loads, causing them to be disgruntled. Her view is that they are underappreciated and underrepresented, and based on her essay, I have come to agree with her points. From the facts and first hand accounts she presents on employees of Wal-Mart, I agree with her proposition that employees are underappreciated.
The rich use tactics to gain the support of the middle class, but without losing any of their own riches, like wealth or power, for their own gain. It was at the cost of the “slaves, Indians, and poor whites” (Zinn 1). It spared the rich any expenses, but brought them much gain, from the support. Finally, the growth of the colonies positively impacted the rich as well, as they received the profits and benefits from the expansions. With one percent of property owners owning forty four percent of the wealth, it shows how the majority of the wealth was given to the rich, and not distributed among the other classes at all, deepening the division.
Matthew Leav PPE 400 Lowe February 6th, 2023 Explaining Edward Conard’s Argument for Lower Taxes on the Rich In his book The Upside of Inequality: How Good Intentions Undermine the Middle Class, Edward Conard argues that lowering taxes on the rich would lead to higher growth and further innovation which would justify any resulting economic inequality (Lowe 2023). He argues that the notion that America’s richest members are to blame for growing inequality is mistaken (Conard 12). Rather, inequality is a result of growth and innovation and is an unavoidable consequence in a developing economy (Conard 13). In this paper I will seek to explain this argument.
Andrea Elliott’s article “Girl in the Shadows: Dasani’s Homeless Life” depicts the trials and tribulations of a young girl named Dasani, who lives in a homeless shelter in New York City. The article “Amber Waves of Green,” by Jon Ronson, illustrates the different lives of people in the varying socio-economic classes. The experiences and opinions of rich and poor Americans reveal how the United States economy is set up to keep the poor impoverished, and the rich wealthy through unfair tax breakdowns, pay that is incommensurate with the level of work poor people do, and the government’s neglect of homeless people’s needs. In the United States’ economy, there is a clear socio-economic hierarchy; one in which the wealthier people have privileges.
Consequently, many rich Americans believed in this view, and used it as an explanation of why some are poor and some are rich. Additionally, a similar view is expressed in Progress & Poverty, written by J.M Dent. (Doc. 11). In Progress & Poverty, Dent explains that an uneven distribution of wealth will aid social progress, because it will drive people to work harder, which in almost all cases, never worked, and only caused social unrest and strikes. Conversely, some politicians fought for workers’ rights and developed legislation in response.
In the movie, Inequality for All, there are a lot of important facts and research about our American economy that has not been helpful for the middle class. It has been beneficial for the upper class on many different levels but it hurts the heart and soul of the American workforce which is again the middle class. Without the middle class there would be no upper class, the middle class is very essential to the American economy flowing smoothly. In this film, former United States secretary of labor Robert Reich travels across America looking for answers to what happened to our economy. Reich explains what America has been and become over the last one hundred years.
In the United States of America, the capitalist system dominates our economy by fostering production, competition, and private ownership. Although capitalism appears to be effective, especially for large corporations and the ruling class, it can be a problematic and unfavorable system for many others. An economic stratification has always existed in the Modern Western European society. As countries aimed for nationalism, or unity among the people, divisions in economic class emerged. The working class of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries frequently endured long production hours, low wages, unemployment, and poverty.
The author goes on in detail about Walmart’s employee selection process and the unique attributes they look for. Walmart looks to employee staff that will not look to unionize the company and employees that are afraid they wont be able
“A man can be rich, but only a nation can be wealthy. And if anyone suffers from poverty, our whole country bears the shame.” (Mosley para. Intro) In the article “Show Me the Money” by Walter Mosley, he talks about the three economic classes, who makes up these classes, and what defines them.
The most powerful element in society is wealth, it has the power to corrupt the human mind and body. Andrew Carnegie the president of a $480 billion steel company believed it is “the duty of the man of wealth” to control all the money that comes to him, and “becoming the mere agent and trustee for his poorer brethren… Doing for them better they would or could do for themselves” (Doc C). Clearly the immense amount of wealth he possessed has corrupted his mind to make such hostile judgment upon the poor. The mere dream of a laborer is to become successful in their jobs in order to earn the sufficient amount of money to buy a decent home, and raise a healthy family.
Wealth and Inequality in America Inequality The inequality in America has increased over time; the gap between the rich and the poor has become a problem that many Americans don’t see. Inequality is the extent of income which is distributed unequally among the citizenry. The inequality of the United has a large gap between the poor and the rich making it unfair to the population, the rich are becoming wealthier and the poor remain poor. The article “Of the 1%, By the 1%, For the 1%”, authored by Joseph E. Stiglitz describes that there is a 1 percent amount of American’s who are consuming about a quarter of the United States income in a year.
The problem with the widened wealth gap is that the inequality may harm the quality. Meaning that those in the higher classes see it as you can use the money with no restrictions. However, economist believe that the “relationship between inequality and economic freedom, with the possibility that policies that are meant to reduce inequality will reduce economic freedom, which will then only make inequality worse.”
I. Introduction Walmart Stores, Inc. - the American corporation which was established in 1962, is well-know for the globe’s largest multinational retailer (Walmart 2016). Walmart owns a chain of grocery stores, discount department stores and hypermarkets with about 11,500 retail stores over 28 countries. In 1998, Walmart entered Germany with the acquisition of Wertkauf and Interspar chain (Louisa 2006). Despite having the strongest economy in Europe and the third largest retail market in the world, Germany was not an ideal place for Walmart to achieve its ambition (Knorr and Andt 2003). After nearly a decade struggling to grow, Walmart decided to pull out of German market in 2006 with the loss of one billion dollars (Mark 2006).