Edith Delaney (Boston College, Trinity College Dublin) on Economic Inequality

With 46.9 million people in America living below the official poverty line the reality is that economic inequality and poverty is depriving millions of people of basic standards of living, never mind the barrier that it creates to fulfilling ones potential. The faint echo of the once promising chant “Yes we can” is being droned out by loud cries of economists and the Occupy movement. One of the harshest realities to face is that even if the economy improves not everyone will rise from this depression. The promise of the American Dream is fast becoming a distant memory.

I have borne witness to varying degrees of wealth and poverty the world over; from Kerry, to Kingston to Kolkata but never was I so struck by the startling inequality than that which exists in this nation’s capital. While geographically close the varying realities of its inhabitants couldn’t be further removed. It is almost incomprehensible to think that the White House could be so close to Ward Seven (Capital Heights); an area where opportunity is a figment of a dreamer’s imagination. It is an obscure actuality that the nation’s leaders meet but a few miles from a place known for its poor education, political under-representation and social problems.

It is not by some tragic accident that these people are plagued by multiple misfortunes. Unfortunately, they were born into an unequal society where one’s family’s economic circumstances dictate so much of a person’s future. Studies have shown that income inequality can breed corruption and affect health, in addition to the obvious negative effect on education. These children do not show any less potential, but their futures are certainly less promising.

The scourge of income inequality transcends state boarders and regional boundaries. It is not a new phenomenon but an aging problem that has not lost its momentum. Edward L. Glaeser, an economist at Harvard, argues that as the wealthy acquire greater political influence, they may support policies that make themselves even richer at the expense of others, further fuelling the cycle of inequality.

On the surface there appears to be an infinite number of social and economic problems, however, the further one delves into these murky waters, the clearer the root of the evil becomes. Unless we come to terms with economic inequality, empty pockets will continue to hold us back, and the ideal to which Peale subscribes will remain a fantasy.