The statistic revealing that the top 1% of the population own between 40% and 50% of the nation’s total wealth left me thinking. It is shocking that such a small group of people can own most of the wealth in the world. It is also impactful because it goes to show how much control a small group of people have. From my perspective, this suggests that it is harder to become wealthy since networking is limited to only 1% of the world, and once you are wealthy, it is easier to stay wealthy.

Living in a society with significant wealth inequalities leads to unequal distribution of resources. This creates a problematic situation where opportunities are harder to come by for the working class. Coming from Canada,  the education system in New York is much more expensive than in Canada, where healthcare and education are almost free. This experience showed me how much harder it is to succeed in America when coming from a working-class background. Health problems cost a significant amount of money that the majority of people can’t afford, and the cost of a good education is enormous, leaving lower-class families in more debt. This situation is extremely discouraging and  also makes it difficult for people to move up in life.