Executive Compensation. I’m in agreement with Thomas Piketty that the one cause of rising inequality in the United States “the rise of supersalaries” for top executives (Piketty & Goldhammer, 2014, p. 298). The average American estimates CEO to worker pay ratio at about 30-to-1, which is more than 4 times what they believe to be ideal. The career review site Glassdoor reported from 2014 data that the average pay ratio of CEO to median worker was 204-to-1 and that at the top of the list, four CEOs earn more than 1,000 times the salary of their median worker with the very top pay ratio of 1,951-to-1. In some cases a CEO makes in one-hour what it takes the average employee six-months to earn. In comparison, the Washington Post reported for the …show more content…
Along with globalization market forces has had the greatest impact on income equalities in the United Sates. Thomas Piketty says that “by definition, in all societies, income inequality is the result of adding up these two components: inequality of income from labor and inequality of income from capital. The more unequally distributed each of these two components is, the greater the total inequality ... [a] decisive factor is the relation between these two dimensions of inequality: to what extent do individuals with high income from labor also enjoy high income from capital? Technically speaking, this relation is a statistical correlation, and the greater the correlation, the greater the total inequality, all other things being equal” (Piketty & Goldhammer, 2014, p. 242). In the U.S. the correlation between the two dimensions has become so astonishing that “President Obama called economic inequality “the defining challenge of our time.” But while Americans acknowledge that the gap between the rich and poor has widened over the last decade, very few see it as a serious issue. Just five percent of Americans think that inequality is a major problem in need of attention” (Fitz, …show more content…
African American’s have been on the bottom end of inequalities since their arrival United States, although advances have been made African American men still fare badly. For Hispanics high immigration numbers accounts for the inequality gap among them. The presence of women in the work place has add little to the issue and the decline of trade unions has negative implications for all workers. Advances in technology is part of the natural cycle of industry and while some jobs will initially fall victim to it new skills and training will provide for new careers. Thomas Piketty and Joseph Stiglitz shows that the overwhelming causes of the current cycle of economic inequalities to be income and capital inequality that exist because of politics and government policies that benefit the rich at a cost to the poor and
In “The Overpaid CEO” Susan Homberg and Mark Schmitt bring to attention how CEO pay in America is ridiculous in numbers as opposed to other parts of the world. Looking back, in the nineteen hundreds CEO pay was relativity average. As businesses and companies began to expand there was a demand for higher pay. Between 1978-2012 CEO pay increased by 875%! Many rules and regulations were put in to place to limit the pay of a CEO, such as the Securities Exchange Act that I will explain later on, regardless CEO pay kept getting higher and higher as many loopholes were found. Bonuses pay a large part in the salaries of CEOS’, as an effect CEOS’ tend to partake in risky behavior in order to score those big paychecks.
In Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore, Robert H. Frank paints a picture to the reader about the struggles of pier pressure. For example: an upper-classmen chooses to buy a big house and fancy clothing. This acts as a “frame of reference” to the changes and norms of the society. If he spends money on something nice, a middle-classmen will then go and decide to do the same thing, and then a lower-classmen…all the way down the social hierarchy. This is what he calls an “expenditure cascade.” Robert relates this with a person’s downfalls, which can be traced due to lower income inequality. Income inequality basically means that in a given quantity, the dispersion of income is underlined by the gap between individuals and or households with
From 1938-1969, in America was in a period called the great compression, a time where the difference between the richest and poorest Americans was very small and economic growth was explosive. Due to past and current economic policies and events, income inequality has exploded in America, which is why in 2015 America had the highest level of wealth inequality in the world at 80.56 gini[1] . In the future this inequality will slow down economic growth, increase debt for middle income Americans, make America less democratic, and reduce economic mobility. This problem, however, does have solutions and this paper will lay out some of the solutions and the effect they will have on the economy, but first I will explain the history of income inequality in the US.
Wealth inequality in the United States has grown tremendously since 1970. The United States continuously reveals higher rates of inequality as a result of perpetual support for free market capitalism. The high rates of wealth inequality cause the growing financial crisis to persist, lower socio-economic mobility, increase national poverty, and have adverse effects on health and well being.
In any given population, there is a difference between what people within the population earn. The uneven distribution of income in any given population is income inequality. In order for there to be income, there has to be several sources of income. These sources of income may be combinational or independent per person receiving the income. Income may result from wages, rent, bank account interests, salaries or even profits made in business transactions ( Stiglitz, 2012).
For the past 30 years the “gap” in income received by the rich and the lower class has continuously continued to increase, showing no signs of decrease anytime soon. This gap has mostly affected the middle class, which is made up of mostly African Americans and Hispanics, making America less determined to correct such an issue. Given the circumstances African American’s are the focus of this issue due to the fact they make up majority of the middle class. It is known that modern racism exist within today’s society in various ways, one of which happen to be within the economy. For decades the economy has had its downfalls, however, it’s been facing an issue that it has been hiding from the rest of the nation. The gap that everyone speaks has
The highest earning fifth of U.S. families earned 59.1% of all income, while the richest earned 88.9% of all wealth. A big gap between the rich and poor is often associated with low social mobility, which contradicts the American ideal of equal opportunity. Levels of income inequality are higher than they have been in almost a century, the top one percent has a share of the national income of over 20 percent (Wilhelm). There are a variety of factors that influence income inequality, a few of which will be discussed in this paper. Rising income inequality is caused by differences in life expectancy, rapidly increases in the incomes of the top 5 percent, social trends, and shifts in the global economy.
In “Inequality Has Been Going on Forever… but That Doesn’t Mean It’s Inevitable” by David Leonhardt, he responds to the issue of income inequality between the wealthy and the poor. He starts out with explaining that rising income inequality has been going on for so long that it is starting to look inevitable. Leonhardt then states that Thomas Piketty had wrote that income inequality has been a historical norm. Piketty also writes that the inequality has risen all throughout modern history, with some exceptions including wars and depressions. Leonhardt then begins to explain that even though something may seem natural or likely, it doesn’t mean something is inevitable. Leonhardt then states that the course of income inequality can be changed. He tells that along with wars and depressions, education can disrupt income inequality. I agree with David Leonhardt that income inequality is not an inevitability, and it is something that can be changed.
Capitalism has been the central force behind the growth of the United States’ progressive economy. Within such advanced economic system the chances of economic disparity are significantly high. In fact, over the past three decades there has being a steady increase in unequal wealth distribution among the economic classes. To sustain the current unequal wealth distribution among the classes of the American population, there are numerous factors that influence and shape this trend. For some members of the population it is alarmingly disturbing to know that recent statistics have shown that, “In the US [alone] the wealthiest 1% of its population owns more than the bottom 95 %” (Gutman). As for the difference in economic wealth, it resulted
This article discusses the wealth inequalities and social status differences between several slave communities throughout the Caribbean. The article examines various social structures and privileges afforded to slaves from the mid to late 1700’s. The slaves who worked on sugar plantations were often granted privileges and were considered to be of elite status. In comparison, slaves who were not located on sugar plantations were treated inhumanely, starved, regularly beaten and often worked to death.
First, the increased income inequality in the United States is due to increasing problematic issues in the education sector. Education plays an increasingly vital part in the economic success in the United States as technological transformations and globalizations increase. A weakening middle class leads to decreased improvements in the education system, while a stronger middle class leads to increased
Income inequality has been a major issue in American history. There are many different factors that contribute to inequality. These include education, wealth, discrimination, ability, and monopoly power.
This perspective resonates well for me because its letting me know that as hard work is put in, rewards will be reaped exceedingly. This can just remind an individual that if one is working a minimum wage job but later down the line found another job that pays more either because one finishes school and/or by just luck one is connected to another person, this can be either family, friends, acquaintances it can make a big difference in one’s life. I feel and believe everyone is equal and the only difference is the amount of money one possesses and according to the article we all can be in the same and/or equal position where more wealth can be accumulated.
In 2003 the average pay for CEOs at 200 of the largest U.S. companies was $11.3 million--but there are a good number whose compensation packages approach the $100 million mark. Faced with these figures, Americans from all walks of life--who revile CEOs as greedy fat cats--are overcome with bewilderment and indignation. Astonished to learn that what an average worker earns in a year, some CEOs earn in less than a week--people ask themselves: "How can the work of a
In today’s economic society, the presence of income inequality has only grown worse and shows no visible signs of stopping. According to an economics professor Emmanuel Saez, “U.S. income inequality has been increasing steadily since the 1970s, and now has reached levels not seen since 1928.” This calls for an alarm to the people in social groups such as women and low-income families. Income inequality is brought to life by factors the can be influenced by properties of our nations policies. The economic and public policies in the United States has led to income inequality due to the factors of education, discrimination, and monopoly power.