Income Inequality in the United States

The United States is proud to be one of the most successful democratic governance counties. The idea of ​​American dream is that all citizens have equal citizen freedom and response government. However, the effectiveness of democracy is threatened by increased inequality in the United States. "The mainstream view is that economic development and modernization are the key to continued growth of democracy" (Snider and Faris 2001; UN, 2011). Over the past decade, especially in American society, there was an important time to increase equality.

Then, to what extent does economic inequality - contrary to the bad economic outcome overall - will we explain the rise of populist politics? Certainly, according to the standards of industrialized countries, the income disparity in the US is high, and the income disparity has expanded since the late 1960s23. The bottom three-thirds of the US income distribution is household income. It has more than doubled between 1947 and 1947. In 1979, looking at the actual dollar, it is stable after that - even if the average productivity almost doubled. twenty four

Income disparities in the United States are considerably higher than in Europe. The Scandinavian countries have the lowest level of inequality among the European countries. When the income data of each country is adjusted to be comparable, the average income of American households is generally higher than that of Europeans, but the income of American poor is lower than the income of European poor . Two main reasons are presented to explain why the United States inequality is very high compared to other countries. First, weak institutions in the United States provide income support to children and elderly families. Secondly, labor unions are weak in the US, Europe is relatively strong, and labor unions play an important role in raising wages for low-wage workers.

Income disparities in the United States are expanding since wealthy people continue to have more wealth and income since 1970. For example, 95% of the revenue growth rate from 2009 to 2013 has reached the top 1% of the US working class. Progressive recognizes that low union rates, weak policies, globalization, and other drivers bring income disparities. Expansion of income disparity is encouraging progressive people to draft legislation, including but not limited to reform of Wall Street, reform of tax laws, reform of campaign funds, closing loopholes, and maintaining housework.