The term “wealth gap” can not even come close to describing the wealth distribution inequality in America today. This week I was horrified when I learned about how much wealth 1% of Americans are holding compared to the other 99% of Americans. According to the video “How wealth inequality is dangerous for America” (linked at top of page) the top one percent of Americans are holding 40% of the total national wealth. I have heard similar statistics before but I was not informed about how this could really hurt our economy and our citizens. This outrageous wealth gap means a very small portion of citizens hold a lot of power. So the “land of the free” is really being run by the upper class citizens and is now neglecting the majority of citizens who are living paycheck to paycheck. Living paycheck to paycheck takes away opportunity for those citizens to really contribute to society because they can’t be innovative, invest, create, or consume very much. This stunts the overall growth and health of the economy, although the upper-class would like us to believe it is good for the economy when they hold all the wealth. This idea stems from “trickle-down” economics, which states that capitalism will motivate people to work hard and earn a lot of money and that money will then “trickle-down” from the rich and end up in the pockets of the poor. This simply isn’t true and hasn’t worked. The rich are getting richer and the poor are suffering. Today we see this in the news all the time, homelessness, poverty, unemployment, worker rights, minimum wage, health care, and so on. These issues need to be addresses but for the most part there hasn’t been significant solutions. This wealth inequality is still growing and politicians don’t want to address it because the wealthy 1% are the people funding campaigns and lobbyists. So we as citizens must stand up and start talking about what our elected politicians won’t talk about. If we don’t speak up I am afraid of what will happen when the one percent has total control over the wealth in America. With wealth comes power and this goes to show who really has power in America. The wealth stays with the wealthy and travels down their family tree never making its way to the rest of the country. In the video I found this week, I learned about how these families keep wealth to themselves and work hard to make sure it stays within their families. Also seen in the documentary “The One Percent” where the Johnson family gathers to figure out how to handle the massive amount of money they are holding within one family. It’s time something changes, it’s time for equal opportunity to success.
Maggie Fredricks
Word Count: 462
sociology 107 