Unequal Wealth Distribution

Unequal Wealth Distribution

Leaving Majority with Minority and Minority with Majority

By: James Bagsic

Research: 

Unequal wealth distribution is a problem that America as we know it, is suffering to this day. As a basic definition, this means that money is distributed unequally between the working class and the wealthy elite. As a background the working class is the majority with billions of people considered to be in this poor and middle class. The wealthy elite, on the other hand, is a minority and yet they own over 40% of the wealth! Isn't that hardly fair? Well the working stiffs of America have been working hard for nothing but a picometer of what the elite consider pocket change. For years the wealth distribution trend has only been expanding and the distance between the working class and the elite have been growing meaning inequality will prevail. In this blog I will be showing you the trend and how distanced the wealth curve is between the elite and the working class. I will also be showing an interesting visual that will depict wealth distribution within the government and the people. Not meaning to be biased but it does seem a little lop-sided. 

A research article called "The Dynamics of Wealth Inequality and the Effect of Income Distribution" by Yonatan Berman depicts how wealth distribution throughout the years have been unequal since the 1930s. According to Berman wealth and income changes have never been equal throughout the years since 1930s to the present 2010s. Wealth inequality is a serious problem and states himself that the majority reside within the income distribution and working class rather than the elite class. Even though the majority is only a speck compared to the actual population of America, they still end up with most of the wealth. The working class is left with billions of people in need of constant income yet they are left with less than 40% of the wealth. This wealth is not enough to support millions of families with homes, food, necessities, sundries, etc. It is very surprising to know that a normal middle class family only needs about $58,000 a year to survive. Unfortunately, most families in America do not have the luxury to this wealth because of the widening gap between the wealthy and the working class. 

Piketty, Saez, and Zucman, 2016. "Historical Inequality in the U.S."

The next research article is called "The U.S. Spends more on its Military Than 144 Countries Combined" written on a government website called Institute for Policy Studies (ips-dc.org) that describes how unequal wealth distribution is especially between the people of the country and the military.  The author wrote points such as $648.8 Billion goes to the military rather than the people in America. The author also states how other powerful countries such as China and Germany have a military finding peaking $40.1 Billion and 144 other countries combined do not even reach the military funding. It is uncanny to see how much of a difference between America's funding of military between the rest of the world, $121 Billion in fact. This money could be used for other aspects of America such as state funding and occupation payment, but the military funding is used mainly for the Pentagon's workers and other various services. The money distribution is widening and the military funding is not helping the case. These numbers continue to depict the widening gap between the wealthy and the working class. If this trend continues, America will turn into a 3rd world country with a destroyed economy and uncontrolled government. 

Institute for Policy Studies, 2019. "The U.S. Spends More on its Military Than 144 Countries Combined"

Personal: 

On a personal level, I was born into a 3rd world country, which is the Philippines. I happened to be lucky and traveled to the USA to settle and carry on an education. My mom and my dad came to the USA with absolutely no money and had to to a lot of odd jobs before starting to live a normal life. We often had to live from a friends house for long periods of time before we could save enough to live independently as a family. I soon realized that wealth distribution wasn't equal when I was introduced to the topic at 7th grade. My family wasn't well off and yet I'm seeing the military getting more powerful and the wealthy showing off more belongings they own to the masses. Me and my family were barely getting by with cabbage soup at a young age, while the elite weren't suffering at all and living the life of luxury. This impacted me heavily, as a kid I was jealous, but as I grew older I realized these were the cards I have been dealt. Now I do feel blessed on everything I have and I also have a better sense of empathy towards those with or without an abundance of wealth. Right now me and my family are at a comfortable situation, but wealth inequality has to stop, I don't want other new families having to go through the same tough path me and my family had to go through. 

The reason I chose this topic is because I see tons of people in my community that suffer from wealth distribution, a lot of unequal opportunities are given to working class families while all the luxuries are focused to the elite few. I wanted to show the world a perspective towards the majority. The minority with all the money are focused only on spending rather than seeing the bigger picture of those who actually struggle. This gap of inequality and wealth distribution is widening and that is not good. With this blog, I want to show the audience the effects of this gap and how far it has progressed up to now. Wealth distribution is no joke and we should look forward for more equality and less struggle. 

References: 

Berman, Yonatan, 2016. "The Dynamics of Wealth Inequality and the Effect of Income Distribution" journals.plos.org.
Institute of Policy Studies, 2019. "The U.S. Spends More on its Military Than 144 Countries Combined" ips-dc.org.