1. Which statistic on wealth inequality in the US (discussed on p. 29) made the biggest impression on you? Explain why?

A statistic from page 31 states that a fraction of the top 1% totaling only 145,000 individuals increased their income by almost 600% in the last three decades, while the income earned by the bottom 90% of the country fell by 7%.  This was astonishing to hear because it emphasized how much the gap of wealth inequality in this country continues to grow.  The reason it made such a big impression on me is due to how small the uber rich class in the US is, being only 145,000 individuals in this statistic, and the fact that they were able to gain 600% more wealth in that time despite being such a small grouping really blows me away.  When you take in consideration that the lower 90% of the US managed to lose income, even if it was only 7% total, it almost becomes hard to process how such a small amount of Americans can continue to have so much more wealth than a majority of the country, and continue to increase that wealth while the majority continue to have around the same, or slightly less, wealth in that time.

2. What could be some of the implications of living in a society that has such huge wealth inequalities? Do you see this dynamic getting played out in everyday life in our society? How so? Example?

A huge implication of living in a society that has such huge wealth inequality would be that, no matter how hard a working-class person may try to amass enough wealth to be able to live comfortably, there are little to no guarantees that they will be able to maintain that in our current capitalist-worker society.  Capitalists will continue to try to find ways to undercut the working class and without the support of an undercurrent of wealth, even a well-off worker could fall victim to those changes.  While the wealthy capitalist class may have ways around paying for their basic needs or enough wealth to fall back on if one of their business ventures fail, according to this reading, most Americans do not have much, if any, assets to their name once you take debts into account.  Debt is also increasing in the working class as inflation continues to affect the price of goods and services but not the wages that are being paid.  This dynamic is played out in everyday life when a major company on the brink of bankruptcy, such as American Airlines was at one point, will have its already well-off executives give themselves lucrative bonuses while laying off many of the working-class roles in the company to make sure profits stay high.  We also see this in the fight for a living wage, where it has taken years to get to the “living wage” of $15/hour in many, but not all, parts of the United States, and the battle has taken so long that even $15/hour is no longer a living wage.  In this time, we have seen heavy inflation occur with most of the basic necessities, especially in regards to housing costs.  Overall, living in a society with such huge wealth inequalities means that the working class is ultimately at the mercy of what the wealthy capitalist class decides to do because the working class does not have the funds, even collectively, to push back.