Rich-Poor Gap Widening: Working Class Struggling To Make Ends Meet - Research Paper

Introduction

Like any other country, America is made up of individuals from different cultures and social background. Since the 1920s, the gap between the rich and poor is growing big. Normally, rich people make the least percentage, while poor individuals take the highest percentage. As such, the working class is striving toward achieving their needs due to the low-income rate. On the other hand, rich people have more resources than they can use; therefore, they tend to ignore some basic requirements. Due to this concept, the rich continue to earn more wealth, while the poor remain poor due to low-income rate. As such, income inequality has been a key aspect which has facilitated an increase in the gap. Lowest earn struggles to cater to their needs, while the highest earners use the excess cash to invest and earn more. The structure within society impacts people on how they engage in education, governmental operations, and much more. Additionally, the gap between the rich and poor is highly facilitated by culture, globalization, government plans, and other social factors.

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Normally, the working class does not have a good networking system as compared to the rich class. As such, lower-class lacks a good connection between the corporate community and working system (Reardon 100). Additionally, the low class does not have the income to compete for various opportunities which occur in the community. Without a good cohesion, future generations are forced to create their personalities to influence their job performance (Marx & Frederick 34). On the other hand, rich people take all the opportunities which occur within the community, and hence, they are associated with some social clubs.

Education is a center of learning, where people are given a chance to learn skills to improve their life. However, education institutions have played a vital role in the increase in the gap between rich and poor. Most of the rich children go to private schools, where education is highly valued. On the other hand, children of poor parents go to public schools (Cingano 41). Most of these public schools lack enough resources to improve their skills. Due to lack of enough resources, these children do not acquire enough skills to compete with those children who attend school private school (Marx & Frederick 12). As such, children of rich parents acquire all paying well opportunities and continue to increase the gap. On the other hand, children of poor parents take those opportunities which are paying very low, and they continue to be poor.

The large gap between the poor and rich has resulted in financial crises. This concept has affected the development of short and long term plans in the two social group. According to Cingano (28), a prolonged period of financial inequality impact global economy due to overextension of credit and much more. Additionally, financial inequality increases the chance of the poor being exploited (Reardon 105). Due to the lack of basic needs, rich people tend to exploit poor by subjecting them under the bad working condition and low payment rate. As a result, the growth rate of a nation is highly affected (Cingano 20). Lower incoming families are not able to attain some quality services such as health care which is an essential development aspect. When people are not able to raise enough capital to cater for themselves, they end up engaging in some illegal activities such as drug selling. According to Marx and Frederick (71), most people who engage in such activities aimed at minimizing the gap that exists between poor and rich.

Usually, the rich are the ruling power. The ruling power has the authority to make rules which regulate how people behaviors. Due to inequality, most rich makes policies that hurt the poor. Instead of making policies that regulate and strive toward minimizing the gap, they focus on how to exploit more from the poor. For instance, the establishment of high taxation regulates the chances of poor people investing in certain concepts. Additionally, the power may limit the provision of materials to public institutions which are located in the poor region; thus, affecting how they receive the services.

According to social scientists and policy developers, the government has a vital effect on the regulation of the gap by establishing regulation policies. As such, the government should strive to ensure it improves the education level to enhance skills. The skills and knowledge level will help to reduce the wage level between the two social groups (Marx & Frederick 78). Additionally, the government should establish more reforms programs which require rich people to pay more on certain public products (Cingano 34). On the other hand, the program should reduce the cost of the products to the poor as a way of reducing the income gap. Establishment of a law which set minimum wage level to ensure workers earns enough capital to cater to their needs. Application of these concepts will help to ensure the existing gap between the poor and rich is reduced. When the gap is reduced, there will be a good relationship between all groups of people.

Works Cited

Cingano, Federico. "Trends in income inequality and its impact on economic growth." (2014). Retrieved from englishbulletin.adapt.it/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/oecd_9_12_2014.pdf.

Marx, Karl, and Frederick Engels. The Communist manifesto: a road map to history's most important political document. Haymarket Books, 2005. Retrieved from https://philosophy.columbian.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs1676/f/downloads/FA15_4198.10_Wills_Marx.pdf.

Reardon, Sean F. "The widening academic achievement gap between the rich and the poor: New evidence and possible explanations." Whither opportunity (2011): 91-116. Retrieved from inequality.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/The%20Widening%20Income%20Acheivement%20Gap%20Between%20the%20Rich%20and%20The%20Poor.pdf.