Week #4 Is America Becoming More Unequal?

Historically, the United States has never been a fiscally equal country.  The incomes of its citizens has always been all over the board.  The period after World War II saw a time when equality was closest in history to becoming equal in the U.S.  (However, it wasn't even close) The 1950s and 60s produced a solid middle class, where most everyone had enough money to not only cover the costs of living, but could afford the extra 'wants.'

After the recession of the 1970s and 1980s, though, the income gap widened even more significantly.  Over the last 40 years, the middle class has been slowly disappearing.  The expenses of living have increased, but wages and overall incomes for the middle class have not.  Essentially, the people who identify as middle class today are living with much less than their parents did.

It must be noted, that overall, there has been a decrease of extreme poverty, and social conditions have improved, but incomes have not.

The wealth of the top 1% in the United States exceeds that of the bottom 98%.  Inequality is alive and present in one of the world's top first-world countries.
People who identify with the bottom 98% have voiced their concerns over the widening gap of wealth in the U.S. Since 2001, economic recovery has been weak by almost every measure of standard.  The one area where this doesn't apply is in corporate profits, which have seen a steady rise since the most recent recession.
Even though poverty has overall decreased in America's history, the U.S. still has one of the highest poverty rates for developed countries at 12.6% in 2006.  And that number has only increased in the 2000s.

On the other hand, corporations are needed to keep America running.  Since most of the wealth lies with 1% of the population, increasing taxes and trying to create equality could very well drive some of the wealthiest people out of the country.  The people who see corporations as a corner block of this country argue that living conditions for all citizens have overall improved.  There has been much progress in agriculture, construction and manufacturing, as well as in public health, nutrition, and in the longevity of life.
They also argue that since the need for physical capital has been replaced by human capital - the need for brainpower, there is greater access to good paying jobs for middle class - college educated people.  Social equality for people of different races, gender, religion, and sexual orientation has drastically improved also.

On a personal level, I come from a lower middle class family in central Nebraska.  Our main source of income is the family farm, and my mother's poverty-district teaching salary.  We never had more than we needed growing up, and money was constantly a source of stress for my parents.  My view point may be slighted in favor of the working class, because I have seen first hand the struggles poverty creates.  For me, hearing that some people live so lavishly and their incomes keep getting bigger, while the working class stays the same of diminishes, I get angry.  America is not equal.  Nor is it heading in the right direction concerning economic equality.  I acknowledge that the top 1% do pay the majority of the taxes, however, I also want to point out that their high level of taxes does not interrupt their carefree lifestyle.  Whereas a 14% income tax for my family nearly sinks us fiscally.