Final Summary and Response from Paulo!

The Left's "Inequality" Obsession

Arthur C. Brooks | Wall Street Journal

July 19, 2007

http://www.aei.org/article/society-and-culture/the-lefts-inequality-obsession/

According to the article “the left’s inequality obsession” by Arthur C. Brooks the inequality in the US between the rich and poor has grown even more in the past years. Statistics show a growing difference between these two socio-economic groups. While the incomes in the higher class increased by two-thirds, and in the middle one quarter, the lower class has gotten a raise in just one fifth. It’s is something to be worried about experts say. The velocity for rich for getting richer is considerable faster than the time that takes poor to get richer. The problem is not just the fact that difference exist, the biggest problem is that the gap has grown during the time. In fact, in 1973 average wealthy family earned as much as tenth times an average poor family, while now the difference has grown to 15 times bigger. Other example of this inequality is the one given from president Obama. He affirmed that an average CEO earns more than an average worker in a whole year. This difference has given terms from experts as John Edwards who called it “the two Americas” or Sen. Hillary Clinton who called present’s economy as "trickle-down economics without the trickle." The difference has been seen as source of unhappiness or miserableness for the ones in the lower class; therefore, new policies focus on solve the problem in inequality so this “unhappiness” doesn’t grow. However, statistics show unhappiness hasn’t grown even though the economic gap is becoming bigger. Studies proved that Americans are focused more on comparison to other, so they believe they would be happier earning more than their partners no mattering how much it would be. Finally, in order to meet all American’s necessities there are plans of better repartition of incomes; however, it’s seen as wrong for some people because it would create laziness. Therefore, experts believe there has to exist equality and inequality, so everyone works hard for their purposes.

Response

I think inequality is something that exists and we cannot change; however, we can try to make it smaller between different social groups. Even though I believe money doesn’t buy happiness, I think it is always better to have financial support, so you don’t have to care about money. The people who have more are more likely to focus on other things as job or education, while lower economic groups have always the difficulty of paying bills and stuff. It makes their lives different, so they cannot compete equally. Therefore, I agree that there must be difference between those who did have the same opportunities and did not work hard, but not between those who are born poorer or with fewer chances to succeed.