1 . To me, the most shocking statistic in the reading was the growth of the richest 400 Americans’ wealth during 2001-2008, which went from $700 billion to $1.6 Trillion. Shortly after that, the author revealed that about 145,000 Americans are “thousands of times richer than the poorest quintile.” I did some quick google searches to find what those stats look like now, and found that at the end of 2021 the 1% owned $45.9 trillion in wealth. I knew that the wealth gap was large, but I had no idea how extreme it was.

2. I think its clear that the wealth gap plays a huge role in how social issues are treated (or ignored) in America. The reading even mentioned this. Because of the donations by corporations and billionaires to political campaigns, their interests are often given much higher priority, to the point where many normal people feel that there isn’t a truly effect way to have their voices heard.

A real world example of the wealth gap’s dynamic is the increase in anti-homeless architecture in New York City, especially in wealthy areas. Many wealthy people like to pretend that the poor and homeless don’t exist rather than use their money to help fix the problem of homelessness. The increased number of homeless people being forcibly removed from subway stations where they sleep is another example of this.