Income Inequality

“The Great Divide”By Devan Landry

DefinitionIncome inequality refers to the extent to

which income is distributed in an uneven manner among a population. In the United States, income inequality, or

the gap between the rich and everyone else, has been growing markedly, by every major statistical measure, for

some 30 years.

Remember this?

Occupy Wall Street: Why Did They Do That Again?

Back Story Occupy Wall street was a

movement that started in 2011 at Zuccotti Park in New York. Protestors occupied places in the financial district of New York, as a form of peaceful protesting. Although it did not last long it did spark the phrase “We are the 99%”. Meaning that the 99% were regular working citizens, while the other 1% were the very rich

Why? They wanted to expose

social and economic inequality

They wanted to expose how much control the financial districts around the globe really have

They wanted to find a solution to inequality through trying to unite the 99%

What I learned Through Research Sparked by Occupy Wall Street

It raises the question why are the rich getting richer and the poor poorer?

The United States is not the only place affected by income inequality, but it is a global issue

The gap between the rich and the poor is only getting bigger

Income inequality is sparking a number of social issues

There are solutions to this problem

Why Are The Rich Getting Richer?

20% of America’s wealthiest control more than half of the nations income, same can be said for Thailand

In America the wealthy avoid paying more than the 15% tax bracket because they do not get taxed on capital gain

The wealthy get a better education than the poor, thus gaining a better knowledge of politics, thus giving them more control over political issues (such as taxes)

** Capital gain: A profit from the sale of property or of an investment

And The Poor Poorer?

Many people with no money use credit and end up having a lot of debt, and debt is hard to get out of

People who are born in poverty are more likely to stay in poverty because of things like lack of education and lack of opportunities

The distribution of wealth is very uneven so money stays where it comes from and the poor rarely see it

Distribution of Wealth

Notice how the richest gets 82.7% of the world’s GDP, and all other categories get 20%

This is the reason why the middle class is disappearing

This is the reason why there is such a huge gap between the richest and the rest of the world

Income Inequality Around The Globe

Bankok, Thailand Has a slum only miles away from one of the richest

shopping districts One of the best examples of how big the gap is

getting between the rich and the poor People are living in extreme poverty, while right

next door there are people buying Maseratis and diamond rings

Income Inequality Around The Globe Continued…

Income inequality is not a problem that only third world countries face, developed countries like Canada and the United states are also affected

Bridgeport, Connecticut has a gap similar to the one in Thailand

Gaps like this are happening at a rapid pace all across the United States

Please watch the following video for more details: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLHzEoIrLkk

Why Is This A Problem?

Problems of Well being

o Extreme Povertyo Lack of access to

proper healthcare

o Bullyingo Emotional and

psychological issues

Why Is This A Problem Continued…

Problems of Inequality & Power

o Gives all the control to one group of people

o The people that have the ability to fix the problem do not want to (rich want to stay rich)

o Makes people unequal because of how much money that have

Solutions

The governments needs to start taxing capital gains

The governments needs to make a special tax bracket for the wealthy, so that they cannot avoid paying more than the 15% tax bracket

There needs to be a more even distribution of wealth

The governments need to find a way to ensure that money is going back into the community in forms of things like skills workshops, creating new jobs, and better health care/education

Sociological Theory

Conflict Theory : Understands material inequalities to be a driving for behind many social problems

Understands differentials in power, well-being, and access to resources

Income Inequality causes all of these issues and conflict theory can help us understand why these social problems are happening and how we can try and eliminate them

Sources

CBC News.(2014, March 21). Why the rich get richer and the poor poorer. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/why-the-rich-get-richer-and-the-poor-get-poorer-1.2580263

The Great Divide: Global income inequality and its cost. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.global-income-inequality-great-divide-globalpost

Occupy Wall Street. (2014, November 23). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Wall_Street

Mooney, L., Knox, D., Holmes, M., & Schacht, C. (2013). Thinking About Social Problems. InUnderstanding social problems (Special Edition ed., pp. 09-11). Toronto, Ontario: Nelson Education.

Wade,R.(2001,December). Fiance and Development. Retrieved from http://www.inf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2001/12/wade.htm