Income inequality, how the gap is getting bigger Term Paper

Income inequality, how the gap is getting bigger - Term Paper Example that the gap between the rich and the poor is the most important economic issue facing the world today and this poses a great danger to social stability as well as democracy. Income inequality is caused by different levels of education, the social status that an individual or group occupy as well as their race and gender. The inequality can lead to severe consequences such as increase in crime, low life expectancy and affects the social bonding. The widening income inequality impacts on social relation creating mistrust, anxiety and competition for status. In the United States, income inequality is measure by the standard method referred to as Gini coefficient. The gap has tremendously increased as seen in the recent past and is said to be highest since the 1920s, the income of the rich one percent rose with a twenty percent whereas that of the remaining ninety nine percent went up by just one percent( Ryscavage, 1999) . Research studies on national wealth showed that the top one percent of the wealth Americans controlled about forty percent of the nation’s wealth (Ryscavage, 1999). Their income increased by about two hundred and seventy five comparing that to just under forty percent increase for the sixty percent middle class earners (Ryscavage, 1999). Unlike in the past when the rich had their income from wealth accumulated from past generation today the rich Americans belong to the working class who are employees paid highly or are entrepreneurs. They have the central believe that you should work tirelessly to make your mon ey, their culture is capitalistic in nature for instance they acknowledge that you might be poor but work and get money. Americans have the widest gap between the rich and the poor than any other advanced economy in the world what is of much more concern is that it does not bother most people, the poor struggle to join the higher class rather than work towards achieving equality. The main goal is to achieve economic growth this is the