Richard Wilkerson believes a large gap in income of a
countries citizens has a negative affect on its citizens. Wilkerson uses a
series of data to show how countries with equal wealth are healthier in just
about everyway than those that have a larger gap. Wilkersons numbers show that the
United States just about leads the world in difference of wealth between its
rich economic class and its poor one and the United States scores towards the bottom
of just about every category he used to prove his theory. While all the numbers
point to what he is trying to argue I don’t completely buy it. For example, the
reason we lead the way in the percent of the population imprisoned I would say
is not due to economic equality amongst our citizens but due to the fact of the
harsh drug laws we have in place. Another one of the things I thought while
listening to him speak was how much he raved about japan seemed a little
overboard to me. Japan happens to be one of the worlds highest suicide rates
amongst teens that he brought up. Japan also is a little bit more
technologically advanced than the United States which is what I would credit
their higher life expectancy to. Lastly I feel like trying to distribute wealth
amongst the population almost seems a little communistic in my view. If the government
steps in and equally distributes wealth to all whats the point of working
harder than others when its just going to be given to you. His numbers back
what he tries to say but I personally don’t believe wealth distribution really
has that big if a correlation as he is trying to say it does.
I very much believe the exact same thing you have spoken here. Not only was what Mr. Wilkersons saying seem very much like a communistic society, as you have stated, but I also had a very hard time believing ANY of his data because none of it was cited properly, how many people were studied, when were the studies, what was the control. So, without believing his data I do not have much to say about Richard Wilkersons' talk.
ReplyDeleteI very much believe the exact same thing you have spoken here. Richard Wilkinson does a great job of showing statistical proof to help back up his claim that, “Inequality has always been an issue…” as he states at the beginning. The United States has a more “unequal” gap in between the rich and the poor. He explains how the statistics are in correlation with things like life expectancy, mortality rates, homicide rates, obesity, and mental illness. This shows that economic inequality affects us on every level. While I do think we should look to fix economic inequality, I believe that’s a lot easier said than done. While I do believe economic inequality is a huge problem for society, I do not think there is a viable solution.
ReplyDeleteI agree to an extent, I agree that money gaps can be a very very hurtful thing to a society, but the issue here is where the money comes from. In a perfect world everyone would just have what they earned and that would be fair, but the issue right now is that people are either getting more or less than they deserve. Wilkinson does a wonderful job at showing statistics and shows how huge the gap between wealthy and not wealthy is what can be detrimental, it causes a social class system, that causes discrimination. Like another commenter said its harder said than done.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with what everyone have spoken here. Richard Wilkinson claim that "Inequality has always been an issue" and he backs it up with a geat job of showing statistic proof. The United State has proven to have more unequal gap between the wealthy and not wealthy. He shows how economic inequality effects us on every level by explaining the correlation of the statistic with things for example" life expectancy, mortality rates, obesity, mental illness and homicide rates. Economic Inequality is a huge problem for society and it has always been, well most of the time. I am not sure there will be a solution for such problem though.
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