Analytical Research Paper

Name:
Instructor:
Course:
Date:
Increase of Wealth Disparity and How This Affects the Economic Status of Individuals Living in the United States
The American dream remains a beacon of hope to the public, parents and the youth who are hopeful to someday break through the ranks achieve their dreams of a good sustainable life. This paper will try to give an insight on the effect of the American reality versus the American dream, focusing on rising economic inequality and opportunities alike especially in United States. Even though there is the worldwide proliferation particularly in terms of the social movements that have focused on inequality, economic inequality is still an issue that has been widely politicized. Furthermore, it has been analyzed in depth through a bi-partisan kind of analysis that seeks to find out why economic inequality is increasing. When the financial crisis occurred in 2008, the total amount of wealth that was owned shot up, the economic inequality rose in a questionable manner, and the rates that were seen in the United States rose to an all-time high. With the American dream remaining a valid influence in the perceptions and choices made by, particularly young generation, there are lots at stake that make one ask. Is this “American dream” really a valid basis upon which some vital life decisions should be made?
The article looks at the issues presented with regards to economic inequalities and opportunities. The idea of achieving the American Dream has been perceived by optimists as the key force that make the citizenry hopeful and is the motivating force behind every youth’s aspiration to attend the top colleges and later get good jobs. Critics, however, see it as the main force of distraction from the American realities and blame the concept of “American dream” not able to mesh with the realities of America.
Policy makers are perceived to make the day to day decisions based on the concept of this sought-after objective, American dream. The federal government tried to repair the financial market that was collapsing by implementing policies that are perceived to give a lifeline to this concept, in the process forgetting to address the real issues such as unemployment investment capital availability and as a result, the people of America lived in a system that was cyclical. Moreover, it is perpetuated that the wealth accumulations lead to political power accumulation which has a negative impact to the society as a whole, a wrong effect of the dream. This paper will give an analysis of the impact of this dream on participation, income, and income inequality through presenting empirical work that is new and goes beyond the existing research and opinions of the article “ What’s Up With The American Dream?. The paper will also address the possibilities and advantages that are possible should people and policy makers abandon thesis concept of the American dream. Therefore, the argument that I present is that when it comes to wealth, it is much more indicative because it focuses on the wellbeing of an individual as well as their opportunity source as compared to income. This argumentative perspective will draw from political science and economics so that economic inequality and income can be linked to the effects it might have on participation.
The article ‘What’s Up with the American Dream?’ tries to show that there has been a sharp increase in the income inequality especially in the United States therefore various studies have been conducted based on the concerns related to this problem. Various researchers like (Banting et al. 67) have tried to explore the relationship that exists between revolutionary activity American possibilities and income inequality across various countries. He further investigated the link between conventional and income activities like campaign work, voting as well as campaign contributions. However, the research that has been conducted do not address certain questions that have been raised in the people’s minds over the years. Is the American dream really valid? Considering the current and the recent previous economic trends; there has been an increasing rate of unemployment and uncertainties of a good life as “deceptively” shown in the dream. This trend can be linked to the ideology in the article that tries to show how achieving the American dream largely depends on the economic status of an individual and how hard they work to reach their dreams.
Financial issues that mostly surround the decisions made by the federal government try to repair the collapsing financial market and as a result, the people of America live in a system that is cyclical (Gottschalk et al. 87). Moreover, it is perpetuated that the wealth accumulations lead to political power accumulation which has a negative impact to the society as a whole. This point however, has not been accurately addressed in the article instead it has criticized the issue of economic inequality and having the American dream. In addition, it has also not adequately addressed the events the American government has gone through that influenced the economic status in the US. Something of greater concern is even the fact that the decisions made and considerations therein, are only known by an elite few in the top government institutions. The majority of the populations, therefore, are at the receiving end of the implemented policies and rules with often very little inputs. This concepts make the people who understand the true nature of the American dream a very few top government officials and policy makers. The normal citizenry, thus has to follow the already implemented regulations.
In order to measure economic viability of this concept, the population has to be split into percentiles of income like deciles. In addition, a difference between top decile and average income and bottom decile and average income is seen. If the income turns out to be equal, the difference presenting itself may be almost zero or on the other hand have a positive number. Economists usually take natural logarithms when it comes to the average incomes prior to taking the difference that may amount to attaining the ratio of the logarithm in terms of averages. With regards to the claims of the article, it has not addressed exactly what it will take to achieve economic equality and the consequences that will come if a balance is met. It simply demands that there should be economic equality so that each individual may get to reach the American dream. An even more basic analysis reveal that the concept of good life is deeply founded in the educational backgrounds and levels of academic trainings. The American situation is, however, a little different. In Texas alone, there is 62 percent high school graduate rates. Additional 4 years in the colleges reduce this percentage to 32 whereas the entry level requirements in the job market is attained by only 11 percent. This reality leaves so many not only unable but also unqualified to effectively compete in the job market. Further, consider that majority of the jobs are not created by the Fortune 500 companies, but in the business sector and the small industries, often with no training departments.
Social theorists made claims on how the belief in American dream and economic inequality may lead to the political participation; however, they have not explained particular mechanisms linking politics and economics. The former gives an environment where all people have an opportunity to make it and achieve their dreams, while the later brings the grim reality of financial incapability of the majority population and deeply grounded social existence barriers that make it almost impossible to rise through ranks. For instance, in the article the issue of economic inequality has been linked to politics whereby it has mentioned how the leadership of some Presidents has contributed to the growth of the inequality gap. Economic and social inequality especially in the capitalist system is an outcome of individuals that are exercising their respective preferences through market exchanges that are usually shaped by the actions of the government. The linkage between politics and economic inequalities has an impact on resources like income that are accessible to people for them to increase their wealth and gain more resources while the poorer people receive less resources. The poor people are often the most motivated and concerned with political issues as they often seek to make the changes that will have a positive impact in their lives. All these, in a way aim at achieving the desired American dream. Often more than not, the elected governments fall short of delivering the promises and the hoped-for better life. As a result, the pursuit for the American dream becomes a vicious cycle of expectations and failures by elected governments.
In the American marketplace and labor force models participation, the economists have figured out detailed information about what links economic participation and income. These are the main indicators towards the capabilities of the American citizenry. Income and economic abilities often determine the abilities of a child to attend college and later get their dream jobs. Although, political activity is seen as a type of participation, and economic participation models give certain insights into relationships between income, political participation and economic equality (Moss 89). The perspective of the article seems to mock the fact that working hard to achieve economic success plus having good education so that you can have a chance to earn higher income and does not guarantee the delivery of these dreams, hence it does not consider these aspects as a step to achieve economic equality in the US. An income change however will affect participation levels in the marketplace and labor force. It is common knowledge that individuals are bound to work harder as the respective income increases, but a complex point is seen when it comes to the link between political participation and income and this may turn out to be a very complicated issue.
Moreover, also reveales that despite the fact that people work more so that they can earn more income, it is still debatable by linking income and hours worked but this is still a complex procedure because it shows that due to the fact that the relationship is already complicated, it might if there is political participation. This statement also lacks the ability to show just how economic equality and (or) ability delivery the American dream, hence it does not give guidance on how political participation can be affected by economic abilities and the pursuit of the American dream or the desire thereof. However, insight on the influence of income in this case is provided.
According to the World Institute for Development Economics Research which conducted a study in 2006, they stated that they had information on the distribution of wealth globally and this was put in comparison to United States as well as other developed countries. The researchers that came up with this report wrote that the accuracy of information given on the various countries was somehow inaccurate by a few percentage points. However, they stated that this issue was compensated by using statistical methods that were sophisticated; in addition, they also used various data sets. As a result, it was seen that top ten percent individuals have control over 85 percent of the wealth gotten from the household worldwide minus debts. Does this make the American dream a dream for all? This can be related to 69.8 percent for the individuals at the top ten percent in the US, looks like a favorable statistics for America. This relates to the article which states that there are only a few individuals who have a lot of wealth as compared to the rest.
In addition, the article highlights that the wealthy people have the power to infl...