Income inequality has existed for a long period worldwide. According to Golds (2021), despite the coronavirus's raging effects, the income inequality challenge has been experienced by most Americans before. Based on statistics from the Census Bureau, income inequality has existed for over 50 years. The author alludes that 4 out of 10 Americans have been facing difficulties in covering $400 expenses. Gebeloff (2021) also highlights that income disparity is an issue that has affected affecting most people in different parts of the world for long. The author views that within the brick-and-mortar, a part of the financial system, lower-wage workers have continued to experience issues related to meeting their daily expenses. The lower-wage employees have also continued to suffer from problems such as job losses. On the other hand, the author argues that income inequality has been beneficial to wealthy people. They have been profiting from share costs in brokerage accounts. However, Alexander (2021) argues that the coronavirus exposed the truth about income disparities globally. The author highlights that, despite the freefall caused by the pandemic to the economy, the world billionaires increased their fortune by 27.5%, whereas the poor lost their jobs, leading to detrimental poverty experiences.
The authors also view that a small percentage of the people are rich while the majority are poor. In America, two-thirds of the wealth is owned by the top 5% richest people (Golds, 2021). Despite that, it is estimated that 38 million Americans live in poverty, and it is projected that 54 million people will experience adverse financial constraints this year (Golds, 2021). Similarly, Alexander (2021) argues that only 1% comprises the population of the richest people worldwide. According to Global Wealth Report, the rich have a net worth of over $1 million (Alexander, 2021). Gebeloff also views that the world comprises the 1% wealth population, and they manage about 38% of monetary accounts holding shares, whereas the poor continue languishing in poverty. The authors highlight that the income gap's main cause is the privileges that the rich have, which have contributed to the fixed system of winners and losers, job losses, and unfair economic policies.
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The authors present different opinions on solving economic inequality. According to Gebeloff (2021), the economic disparities can be resolved by increasing the minimum wage. The author projects that it will help nearly 4.6 million people out of poverty if the measure is implemented. Alexander (2021) argues that building assets for working families can help reduce the wealth gap. The author highlights that the government should implement policies that encourage higher savings and lower costs of building assets for the middle class. The initiative will allow better economic security for struggling families. The programs also lead to employees' automatic enrollment in retirement plans and provide them with savings credit accounts that could reduce the current inequality gap. The policies foster higher savings and lower credit that can contribute to access to low-cost and fair financial services. The mechanism fosters the creation of wealth by the poor. On the other hand, Golds (2021) alludes that income inequality can be resolved by investing in education. He views that the current challenge is associated with differences in school and early education quality. The aforesaid has contributed to persistence in income inequality across generations. As such, investments in education programs such as Universal Pre-K and Head Start in early childhood can increase productivity and economic mobility, subsequently decreasing inequality.
Discussion
The economic theorists view that the existing income inequality is caused by stratification, a harmful and dysfunctional challenge to society. Based on the conflict theory, income inequality is experienced due to social stratification that benefits the rich at the expense of the poor. A system of winners and losers creates the rich population, and those at the top maintain it. For instance, the major causes of income inequality are caused by poor payments made by the rich to their workers. The majority of the population utilizes low wages to buy basic needs, and moving to the top is a challenge.
The existence of the income gap between the rich and the poor is also associated with government policies. According to the conflict theory by Karl Marx, the government promotes capitalism by establishing corporate welfare through tax breaks and direct subsidies, an initiative that 99% of the population cannot receive. In the articles, the majority of the population is poor, whereas the minorities are rich. The main reason is that only a small percentage of the people own the means of production because of government support, whereas the largest part provides labor. In the capitalist society, which makes up the rich, they own the means of production used in developing valuable objects. People in the lower and middle class provide labor to the population that owns the means of production, as outlined by the Marxist theory. The poor cannot develop the means of production because government economic policies only favor the rich.
Based on Marx's conflict theory, the government can help address the inequality challenge by altering the relationship between the rich and the poor. The theory supports the state-oriented approaches that regulate inequality. The philosopher views that the government needs to instate policies that contribute to equal distribution of resources and opportunities. The government can achieve those above by developing policies that facilitate economic development. For instance, the Marxist approach highlights that the government should employ a temporal status quo to control society's existing stratification. The theorist highlights that the government should consider eradicating social stratification by owning the means of production. The approach highlights that government measures contribute to the development of an egalitarian communist society, and the measure it develops contributes to equal distribution of resources. Based on the developmental theory, the restructuring of education methods to accommodate Universal Pre-K and increasing wages among the working population is considered an important aspect of eradicating or reducing income inequality. Moreover, the utilization of methods such as increasing the working class's equity through savings and reducing their wealth development cost is also significant.
Conclusion
Income inequality is a challenge experienced worldwide. The authors' view that the major challenges contributing to the gap are poor government policies on wealth generation, job losses, and a fixed system of losers and winners. The government initiatives in place favor the rich, including tax exceptions. The authors view that an increase in minimum wages can breach the inequality, develop government policies that foster wealth creation and saving among the lower and middle-class people, and restructure the education system. The conflict theory views that the government has contributed to the wealth gap and needs to restructure it to encourage economic growth. The approaches highlight that the government should utilize initiatives such as restructuring the education system to allow the development of revolutionary ideas in the economy, building assets for the working families, and owning means of production. The initiatives will contribute to reducing the current economic inequality gap.
References
Alexander, S. (2021). We are the 1%: The wealth of many Australians puts them in an elite club wrecking the planet . The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/we-are-the-1-the-wealth-of-many-australians-puts-them-in-an-elite-club-wrecking-the-planet-151208
Gebeloff, R. (2021). Who owns stocks? Explaining the rise in inequality during the pandemic . The New York Times - Breaking News, US News, World News and Videos. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/26/upshot/stocks-pandemic-inequality.html
Golds, A. (2020). Income inequality, and coronavirus' economic fallout . CBS News - Breaking news, 24/7 live streaming news & top stories. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/income-inequality-and-coronavirus-economic-fallout/
