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Angel Vang

Kristina

ENGL 5-74

14 July 2021

Income Inequality or Systemic Poverty?

Some wake up to the luxurious sound of silence as their home is placed in a gated

community with oversized houses surrounding them, while others are greeted daily by the

ongoing barks of the neighborhood dog alongside the busy suburban traffic. The advantaged

child is prepared a well-balanced morning meal to begin a new day, and the other is reminded

that their “hearty” breakfast is waiting for them in the school cafeteria. The schoolboy whose life

has the fortune of new clothes every school year is praised by his classmates, and the other child

who is not as opulent is repeatedly taunted because their parents just couldn't make the last

paycheck stretch far enough. Although both children attend the same school, read the same

books, and are taught by the same teachers, their futures are already shaped into two completely

contrasting paths. New developed studies have found that children who undergo the poverty-

stricken lifestyle, are expected to never escape; and those who experienced childhood with little

to no worries, almost always continue such successful conditions throughout their lives. Income

inequality is not centralized on poverty but rather focused on the wide gap between the

impoverished and the wealthy. Income inequality in America is controlling the cycle of poverty

and negatively influencing the lives of millions as the gap between the wealthy and poor only

expands; and although the upper-classes are thriving off of its impacts, America remains

reluctant to rebuild the socioeconomic status of those in need.

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Income inequality is nationally disregarded as the gap between the rich and the poor

continuously expands, and Americans seem to have no intention to fix it. It is obvious to the

common man that the United States obtains a very thorough list of issues that are causing harm

to the country. It can be expected that the government already has a complete plan on how to

eliminate each issue according to its significance, but why is poverty remaining strikingly high

with zero improvements? In 2013, a survey was completed by a random sample of Americans to

determine the people’s opinions, finding that “...barely half (47%) of Americans think that the

rich-poor gap is a very big problem for the U.S” (Stokes). The mass population continues to

ignore the residing issue of the large space between the poor and the rich. Those who fall under

the category of “well-off” are less likely to pay any mind to those who do not. Americans fail to

realize that when they overlook the steady issue of income inequality in their country, they are

only contributing to many more problems. In reporter Christopher Ingraham’s article on “How

Rising Inequality Hurts Everyone, Even the Rich”, studies found economic and social harm

caused by income inequality. When the gap between both classes expand, economic growth

depresses, and criminal behavior skyrockets (Ingraham). The American population does not

register that when the people of the country are unable to increase their finances, society is

affected as well. The economy becomes supported solely by the upper classes, and crimes are

encouraged to better the lives of the poor. If the issue of the widening gap was resolved with the

help of the government and those in economic power, lower-class societies would financially

improve, thus lowering the poverty average. As well as imposing harm on American society, the

population that suppresses the poor is only adding to their ignorance. The wealthy are praised by

their peers and envied by their neighbors, but why are such reckless acts of wastefulness

repeatedly worshipped? In an article determined to study the foundation of income inequality,

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author Andrew Hamilton concludes that those with unlimited funds are stretching their wealth

while simultaneously disposing of it as they please. The communities struggling to put food on

the table are disrespected when the upper class continues to waste their dollars. Instead of

donating a small sliver of their wealth to families who cannot help themselves, the rich remain

ignorant with such careless acts. While those with money are entitled to spend it however they

please, they should at least be educated on the disparities they are causing and the chances of

economic support they are avoiding.

The gap between the rich and the poor has never been so inflated in American history,

and it is only accelerating as the days pass. After the Great Recession struck the United States in

2007, millions of families consisting of every financial background were heavily affected. While

the upper-classes had little to no difficulties in recuperating, the remaining classes only struggled

to escape from the black hole of poverty. In a study comparing the wealth of the classes from

2007 and 2016, researchers found that the “...median wealth of lower-income families was 42%

less than in 2007 and the median wealth of middle-income families was 33% lower” (Kocchar).

After one of America’s strongest economic setbacks struck the country in 2007, wealth statistics

are only worse when compared to today. The millionaires of the country are seizing America’s

money when they continue to expand and the poor continue to suffer, making it expedient for

struggling families to help themselves. The arguably worse American recession that has ever

occurred was not the only time that income inequality has been so severe. While millions of

Americans are struggling to repair the dent that the country has created, those looking for jobs

are having even more trouble due to America’s intense technological improvement. Washington

Post reporter, Jeff Guo explains in his article, “Income inequality today may be higher today than

in any other era” the many attributions to current day income inequality as “technological change
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and globalization have widened the gap between skilled workers and less-educated workers”.

Guo explains that as America advanced, people lost their jobs to machinery, and it is still

occurring today. Mechanization is only improving, ultimately forcing us to “steal” the money

from families who are desperately in need. Although technological advancements provide

intense benefits to the productivity of businesses, it simultaneously imposes immense distress on

those who have no additional source of yearly income. And as the poor struggle to find any job

that will provide enough funds to properly live, the rich are having no trouble in doing so. A

program designed to scrutinize one of America’s leading issues of income inequality,

IncomeInequality.org confirms that “Gaps in earnings between America's most affluent and the

rest of the country continue to grow year after year.'' The population can only assume that as the

years progress, the gap expands as well, and despite the number of long hours of labor that the

lower-class produces, it will just never be enough to break free from the horrors poverty comes

with. If the consistent statistics of income inequality are not enough for the United States

government to find the need to make a change, then Americans can only hope for an economic

miracle to save them from their financial agony.

Income inequality has caused underprivileged communities to experience poor

environmental policies that overall limit their success and affect their daily lives. Environmental

policies regulated by the United States Government are harming the poor when waste facilities

are continuously being placed in low-income areas. Families who are fortunate enough to live in

areas with safe circumstances do not have to worry about their children’s health. Yet for those

who cannot sustain such securities, low-income families undergo the high risks of damaging the

health of their children when living in affordable housing. After a study was conducted to

dismantle the contradiction on whether or not the government is purposely placing hazardous
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facilities in low-income neighborhoods, researchers found “ a consistent pattern over 30 years of

placing hazardous waste facilities in neighborhoods where poor people and people of color live ”

(Erikson). Those who have no advantage in the economic world are instead defaulted to live in a

community to which they can afford, only to endeavor in high health risks imposed by the

government. The overwhelming fact that polluting industrial facilities, along with countless

amounts of locally unwanted land uses are still being planted in communities that cannot defend

themselves, correctly illustrates the government’s careless thoughts on the poor (Erikson).

Besides the large masses of toxic waste facilities planted around the non-wealthy, lower classes

also suffer from environmental neglect. The water crisis in Flint, Michigan is just one of many

examples that clearly illustrates how the population in low-income areas is treated. After the

people of Flint realized their main source of drinking water was contaminated with harmful

poison, those in higher positions were reluctant to help, “the EPA knew early on about the

disaster that was unfolding, but failed to step in with the federal emergency powers at its

disposal” (Jackson). The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a government

agency that is supposed to help the people of America, not ignore them. When the government is

aware of a life-and-death situation but continues to act as if there is no issue, it correctly informs

the people on the lack of ministration and basic care their country has for them. It is simply

inequitable that those who cannot defend themselves are disregarded by those who are supposed

to tend to them. The lead in the water that is being forced down the pipes of the poor is already

enough for them to handle, but when the government refuses to pay them any mind, America’s

people are silenced.

Income inequality disallows individuals and families to properly care for their children,

who are now at higher risks for psychological impacts and generational effects. For a family who
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is underprivileged and cannot tend to their children’s needs, the long-term impacts are more

serious than one may assume. To determine the results of childhood poverty in adults, a study

found “health-damaging impacts, negative educational outcomes and adverse long-term social

and psychological outcomes of poverty last the child’s lifetime and are likely to be generational,

with their children being affected” (Carter). The disproportionate gap between the wealthy and

the poor is not only affecting the physical lives of the lower classes but also their mental health.

As children grow into the person they wish to be, the setbacks of a poor lifestyle will heavily

influence their futures. Considering that children form the basis of their identities at a young age,

it is clear that those who grew up underprivileged will have less of a chance to escape the

psychological impacts of childhood poverty. Those who have been surrounded by the

impoverished lifestyle their entire lives almost always fail to prevent such conditions for their

future children, thus explaining “generational effects”. A journalist for Plos.Org, Professor

Heikki Hiilamo found that “at the individual level the case is clear: low socioeconomic status

predicts mental health problems.” Not only affecting the mental state of children, but income

inequality influences the minds of adults at any age range as well. The strong connection

between poverty and mental health proves that the gap between the well-off and those in need is

far too large to be humanly acceptable. Hiilamo exclaims that “research on socioeconomic health

differences has shown that social status and health affect each other at the macro, meso and

micro levels through several factors” (Hiilamo). While those who don't stress on financial issues

are more commonly mentally healthy, others who fear that their children may not eat are

experiencing the mental despair that poverty comes along with.

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.”

Mahatma Gandhi was the voice of his generation that spoke with wisdom and peace, educated on
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the fact that mankind embodies an evil account for avarice. While he spoke with immense

enlightenment in the 19th century, his teachings still apply to modern times. Why do humans

possess such a rigorous thirst for more? Why are there millions of suffering beings with such

excessive riches in the world? The division between the wealthy and the poor is two ends that

will never be met. It is not an issue that the affluent make a life for themselves, but it becomes

inequitable when the wealth circulating inside the globe is not used to help the needy, but instead

used to feed the never-ending lust for more. The world will remain fragmented when the indigent

crowd never seeks furtherance, and the prosperous continue to drown in their hunger for greed.

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