According to Richard Wilkinson, economic inequality is a problem that Americans should try to solve for the sake of our society's health and well-being. Richard Wilkinson claims, because the United States has a big income gap, we are on the higher levels of homicide, imprisonment, lack of trust, mental illness, high school dropouts, and social mobility.
I think that economic equality is impossible and a waste of time to try and fight for. People who make a shit ton of money have earned that income someway somehow. And it wouldn't be fair to be people who work their ass off to make the same amount of money as people who work at McDonald's. We cannot rid our society of murderers and the mentally ill by solving economic inequality because these people are born with a sickness. And most sicknesses can't be treated, but some can with extensive therapy and chemical balancing medication. And who is going to pay for all of that? Also, because there are rich people in America, people are going to drop out of high school? We cannot make people stay in school after a certain age because school becomes a choice rather than a requirement. Richard Wilkinson implies that economic equality equals more peace within a society. But there will always be chaos no matter what.
I feel like I rambled but what I'm trying to say is economic equality is impractical. If we all were granted the same income, nobody would work for anything. Economic inequality is just a way to describe the difference in wealth, income, etc. It's not hurting anybody, it's just a word to describe something.
Nice post.
ReplyDeleteDo I think personally that inequality is a problem that America should take seriously? Absolutely not.
I really honestly believe that people just need to stop trying to “fix” other people. Like seriously, stop. Ideals vary way too much to just be switching shit up to make things “fair”. I completely agree with you when you say that it would be a waste of time. Instead of trying to rid our difference it might just be healthier to embrace our differences all together (so what, everyone’s gonna die eventually). Wilkinson almost makes me feel like this whole life expectancy thing is a competition, honestly, who cares if Americans live longer than the Chinese?
I understand Wilkinson’s point, that equalizing our nation could over all improve our everyday lives, but like you stated Emily, someone out there somewhere worked long and hard for what they’ve got, and it would be wrong as a society to take that away from someone and try and balance your personal earning’s with someone who clearly doesn’t deserve it. “It’s not hurting anybody” exactly my point, a nations equality would be weird and abnormal, tings probably would process correctly anymore. How would something be considered valuable and a luxury if just anyone could get it? Having this noticeable imbalance throughout every nation is our balance as a society.
In the Ted talk, “How Economic Inequality Harms Societies”, Richard Wilkinson argues that the bigger the gap in the inequality of income, the more susceptible a country/state is to higher levels of homicide, imprisonment, mental illness, high school drop outs, and so on. Through all of the statistics that his researchers found, it did seem to prove that these correlations do exist; and that the well-being of a country really doesn’t correlate with the GNP per capita. But are these factors of economic inequality big enough to take seriously and make a change? While I do think it could produce a better society, I think that it is an unrealistic goal. I agree with both Emily and Megan, in the since that it would be a giant waste of time. Obviously people are doing fine without it. And you know what, the word “communism” keeps popping up in my head. I know that he isn’t talking about total control, but he is saying that the countries with more “socialist” governments are the ones seeming to do well in the since of social stability. His reason for this, specifically referencing violence, is that it “becomes more common in more unequal societies because people are more sensitive to being looked down on”(Wilkinson). Meaning the bigger the gap between the rich and poor, the more noticeable it is to “look poor”. No one wants to be or look poor, so it leads to an increase in crime rate. While it is apparent that inequality of incomes does effect the well-being, I don’t think America should worry about it at this point because why fix what isn’t broken. There would still be people dying and people killing no matter what. People worked hard for that money, and, yes, it is so hard to climb the social-economic ladder, but it is possible. Therefor no change should happen.
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