All Things Being Unequal

The gap between the wealthiest Americans and the middle class is ever growing. From 1979 to 2004, the share of national income going to the wealthiest 20 percent of Americans increased from 45.4 percent to 53.5 percent. The bottom 20 percent decreased from 5.8 percent to 4.1 percent. Economists blame the problem on a few different factors; these include globalization, technology, education, and tax policy. Some people feel that we should increase restrictions on trade and outsourcing because that would help people keep the same jobs and salary levels. They also feel that the government should increase taxes on the wealthiest citizens and decrease taxes on the middle to low class families because this would distribute the nation’s wealth. Finally, they feel that the government should increase job retaining programs, wage assistance programs, and unemployment benefits because this would ensure that everyone has a job especially if they lose one to globalization. However, others argue that restrictions on trade and outsourcing would hurt the nation’s economy. They also feel that raising taxes would harm the economy. And finally, they feel that increasing job retaining programs, wage assistance programs, and unemployment benefits would reduce business profits and leave less money to distribute which would hurt employees rather than benefit them.

I believe that the government should increase its influence on trade and outsourcing to some extent. These things can be good for our economy if used in moderation; however, if we outsource everything, there will be not jobs left in America for Americans to have. And that is very bad for our economy. In contrast, though, I do not feel that the government should increase taxes on the wealthiest families. They earned their money and have the right to decide if they would like to donate it to charitable causes. I would encourage them to do so because there are people in our very own country who can’t afford to buy food. Even so, America is a free market economy; people make their own way up the social ladder. The government cannot control how much money a person makes. They can, however, monitor how money is distributed to the people that worked for it. New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney feels the same way. (http://www.njsendems.com/release.asp?rid=2980) The dream of making money is incentive for people to do so. Our nation’s economy can grow in this way. I also feel that increasing programs to assist the unemployed is a bad idea. The government cannot afford to spend money it doesn’t have. Our country is in a recession and people are losing jobs left and right but there are still jobs out there and there will be more jobs available if the government faces its problems head on. Lost jobs or falling wages are the effect of a government in a lot of debt. We can’t spend money on the effect. We have to find the cause and fix it. We have to keep outsourcing from taking over the U.S. We have to respect the free market economy. And we have to get our country out of debt.

Other sites with related topics:

Putting Welfare to Work
http://backstroker321.blogspot.com/2009/12/putting-welfare-to-work.html

Boosting the Minimum Wage
http://erintakle.blogspot.com/

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