2011 saw people around the world rising up against problems stemming from economic injustice. America was not spared from these types of protests, as the Occupy Wall Street movement has shown us. While the state of the economy is always an important issue, especially during an election year, the state of the economy now is particularly pressing for our country.
Research shows that the “Great Recession” rattled the financial security of homes across the country, no matter how wealthy or struggling they might have been before the economic downturn. However, recent research also shows that, as our economy slowly emerges, the top earners are recovering at a much faster rate than the households on the bottom of the income pyramid.
But why does this matter? In a capitalist economic system, some people simply make more money than others. Some people are more educated, get better-paying jobs, earn more money, and are able to save more money.
However, regardless of how people earn their money and whether or not the economic system is fair, economic disparities have huge ripple effects that touch the lives of everyone in the country.
For example, let’s imagine the differences in quality of healthcare that someone in the 1% can afford versus someone living at or below the poverty line. Imagine the differences in education these types of people can afford for their children. What about legal representation? Housing, of course, is highly dependent on income, and living in a low-income area can mean exposure to high crime levels, high pollution levels, and high drop out rates in the local public school system.
This country was founded on (albeit idealistic) principles of equality for all. For whatever reason they exist, the growing income gap in this country is just one indicator of what a serious problem economic inequality in the United States really is. If the economic gap between citizens, between neighbors, between friends and family members and peers, only continues to widen, what hope can there be to make the “equality for all” principle a reality? If economic inequality continues to pull Americans further away from each other, how can we stand united to find solutions to the multitude of other problems facing us?
