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

(The top 1 percent own between 40 and 50 percent of the nation’s total wealth.)

This statistic made the biggest impression on me because it’s outrageous that they own that much of the nation’s wealth.  The 1 percent owning about 40% of the nation’s wealth is outrageous. No one in this world should be able to have that much privilege or wealth. More than 38 million people live in poverty, way too many families. If you are not born into generational wealth, not even being self-made will help you reach half of what the 1 percent own. The 1 percent stays rich because of the hard labor they put the working class through. Without exploiting the poor, the rich wouldn’t be where they are now. To be able to expand and keep your company in business, you need more labor.  Overall, the laws and even the tax regulations should be stricter on them.

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?

America has such a huge wealth inequality that the rest of the world wouldn’t even imagine it. The outside world sees the “American Dream,” the world of equal rights and opportunities, when in reality, to pay your bills nowadays, you require more than one job. We see it in our everyday lives: how we have to skip breakfast because there is nothing to eat at home, how a cup of noodles is what keeps us alive until the next day. Basic necessities are becoming a privilege now, where even pads are 10$ a bag now. While the rich sits back and hordes their money and resources.

1. The statistic on wealth inequality in the US that made the biggest impression on me discussed in the reading was that the top 1 percent of the population owns between 40 and 50 percent of the nation’s total wealth, which is more than the combined wealth of the bottom 90 percent. ​ This is a staggering level of wealth concentration and highlights the extreme disparity between the rich and the rest of the population. It is concerning to see such a small fraction of the population holding such a large portion of the wealth, while the majority of people struggle to make ends meet.
   
   
2. Living in a society with big differences in wealth can lead to a few key issues. First, when wealth is unevenly distributed, it can cause people to become unhappy and lead to public protests. This happens because many feel the system is unfair. Second, if you’re born into a family without much money, it’s much harder to get ahead in life with the lack of education and support. This makes it tough to break out of poverty and can keep the gap between rich and poor wide across generations.
   
   Also, these wealth gaps affect more than just income. People with less money often can’t access the same quality healthcare and education as those who are wealthier. This means they’re at a disadvantage when it comes to improving their situations and living healthier, more educated lives. In short, wealth inequality doesn’t just mean some people have more money than others; it impacts people’s health, their opportunities for a better life, and their overall well-being.

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

The statistics on wealth inequality in the US that made the biggest impression on me is that to be a part of the “richest” 20 percent, you need to earn only $75,000. I would think they needed to earn much more money to be considered part of the “richest 20 percent,” and they are not really rich but upper-middle class. 

 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? 

The implications of living in a society that has such huge wealth inequalities is that large corporations double their assets while eliminating millions of jobs for the working class. Yes, I see this dynamic playing out in everyday life in our society because we see companies such as Google, which cut around 1,000 jobs in many of its divisions and have been heavily invested in AI and cloud computing. They have to reallocate resources and personnel, which has led to layoffs. 

1. The statistic that shocked me the most was fact that workers/laborers have not and would not be paid for their actual value and contribution to the production of a good or service. It is disheartening but it makes sense in a capitalistic society. Someone has to lose in the situation and it so happens to be the “worker-bee.” If workers were paid what they were actually worth then the rich won’t continue to get rich and there wouldn’t be an incentive to be a business owner.
2. One implication that comes with living in a society where there are huge wealth inequalities are the educational opportunities. Families who are wealthy are able to send their children to better schools with more resources, smaller classes with a better teacher to student ratio, extracurricular activities and many other opportunities. Having huge wealth inequalities can impact society, peoples health and well-being and ability and access to a fair playing ground.

The statistic that surprises me the most is the fact that labors are not paid what they deserve, and their actual value that they are working in the capitalist is making the most profit off of their labor.

A huge implication of living in a society that has such huge wealth inequality would be that work in class will always have to depend on capitalist because I need to pay for their basic needs, whereas capitalist are living freely off of the labor of these people who are trying to make a living for themselves

1. Which statistic on wealth inequality in the US (discussed on p. 29) made the biggest impression on you? Explain why? The statistic that laborers would never be paid their essential value surprises me the most. Although it make sense for the capitalist, it is unfair to the worker. This might be fact, but what is also a fact is that, capital can not exist without labor.
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? Some implications of living a wealth inequality society is that wealthy individuals and corporations may influence political processes and policies. This is definitely played out in society. Wealthy individuals are often able to contribute to policies through their connections.

1. The statistics that made the biggest impression of me was “The top 1 percent own between 40 and 50 percent of the nation’s total wealth.” That surprised me a lot because if we think of this carefully we get to understand that the 1% is just a few families of the entire nation’s population. That made me realize the system of inequality in which we all are living it. It made me think that the system itself it’s also a huge factor that contributes so few folks (the 1%) maintain their fortune. That is why I believe that becoming a rich person is just getting impossible for people that are not born into a wealth’s family.

2. Some of the implications of living in a society with such huge inequalities are reflected in a lot of aspects of our daily lives. We can see those impacts inside of our criminal justice system, our education system, and even the health insurance care too. It’s not a secret that being a wary person gives you a lot of privileges that working class folks don’t count on. From getting a better education to getting to live in a safe neighborhood are just some of the factors that play a huge role depending if you’re a wealthy person or not. 

1. The statistics on wealth inequality in the US that made the biggest impression on me is the fact that only 1% of the population own the nation’s wealth while 90% of the population is struggling. ” The top 1 percent owe between 40 and 50 percent of the nation’s total wealth, more than the combined wealth of the bottom 90 percent. True between 40 percent of families own some stocks or bonds, but almost all of them have investments of less the $2,000. Taking into account their debts and mortgages, 90 percent of American families have little or no net assets.” This statistic made a big impression on me because it really opens your eyes up to how only a very small percentage of our population hold a majority of the wealth while the rest of our population is struggling.
2. One of the implications that come with living in a society where there are such huge wealth inequalities is that it could make it hard for people to grow economically. Yes, I do see it being played out in everyday life we always see the rich getting richer and poor getting poorer no matter how much schooling or working a poor person does we will never be able to be part of that 1%.

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.

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

The statistic on wealth inequality in the US that made the biggest impression on me was the top 1% of Americans own more money than the bottom 90% combined. It puts it into perspective how much money the top 1% really has & will continue gaining more while the majority of the rest of the population is working to survive.

1. 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?

There are many implications of living in a society that has such a big wealth inequality like having to accept that there are many individuals who work day & night & cannot afford luxuries like a vacation or even basic necessities like medical insurance or a meal three times a day, everyday. This dynamic is seen everyday in society especially with social media. Seeing the Kardashians on private jets & overwhelming luxuries become normalized while there are people who cannot afford rent.