- Which statistic on wealth inequality made the biggest impression? Explain why?
There were many statistics that surprised me. There were two in particular that really stood out to me. I was stunned to read “In the last twenty years, the 500 largest U.S industrial corporations more than doubled their assets while eliminating over 5 million jobs” this revealed the drastic increase of income for the upper class. Though their capital grew it did not provide an opportunity for equal wealth distribution as they eliminated opportunities. On the contrary, it equipped the upper class to stretch further away from the lower and middle class. The second was “The top 1 percent own between 40 and 50% of the nation’s total wealth…more than the the combined wealth of the bottom 90%” this wasn’t so much as shocking as it was difficult to process the extreme inconsideration to the inequality present in the upper and lower class. This creates a shift in the economy. Impacting prices for products such as food, clothing, rent, things that are a necessity to life.
- Implications of living in a society that has such huge wealth inequality. Is this dynamic played out in everyday life in our society? How so? Example.
The U.S depends on capitalism for the fluctuation and increase of money. Capitalists provide jobs and products. Workers provide labor and use their money to serve as customers. The capitalist system depends on the “Owner” v “Worker” relationship. However, this implies that “Owners” can look for “Workers” in a place where labor would cost less, which causes their surplus value to increase. So this allows “Owners” to spend less on labor and market their products at a substantially higher price. In this scenario, only the capitalist continues to grow. There is no backup if companies decide to “export their industries overseas to cheaper labor markets.” Leaving workers in the lower and middle class to fend for themselves as jobs no longer become available. An example of this occurred in 1995 when companies like Victoria’s Secret, Jcpenney, and others moved their means of labor to prisons. This granted companies the freedom to pay little to nothing for a prisoner’s work. The wealth of owners gained a dramatic increase and job opportunities were eliminated. Living in a society with immense wealth inequality keeps the lower and middle class at a stagnant disadvantage because
- They depend solely on capitalist to advance the public: “Giant corporations control the rate of technological development and availability of livelihoods.”pg 31
- Job Opportunities and Livelihood: “A small number of giant corporations control most of the U.S economy.”pg 31
Credit:
Corporate Abuse of Prisons
