Issue #1 is all about the increasing gap between the incomes of the upper and lower classes. Since 1979, the income of the upper class has increased from 45.4 percent to 53.5 percent. At the same time, the income of the lower class has decreased from 5.8 percent to 4.1 percent. These statistics show the increasing gap between the classes. Similarly, the gap between the upper classes and the middle class have also been increasing. This is due to the middle classes almost stagnant wages, while their cost of living has still been on the rise. Many government officials agree that the current economic gap is unfairly wide. However, they aren't sure what to do about it. Some people think that the federal government should impose restrictions on trade and outsourcing, in order to maintain salary levels and protect domestic jobs. These restrictions follow the rule of protectionism. Other people suggest the government should increase taxes on the upper classes and reduce taxes on the lower and middle classes. However, not all people feel that the problem needs to be fixed. People who oppose change suggest that inforcing trade barriers would reduce bussiness profits which would leave less money to distribute to the workers. Other people say that the gap between economic growth actually helps stimulate the economy. Some opponents also say that federal spending on social safety nets already consumes about half of the federal budget, and there just isn't enough money for more.
I believe that the government shouldn't do anything to help decrease the gap between the upper and lower classes. The fact of the matter is, if the middle and lower class jobs earned wages that were similar to the upper class jobs, no one would work for those jobs. People who become doctors and lawyers spend many years in college doing hard work and studying in order to get a high class salary. But if they could do less schooling and still get a fairly high paying job, I would imagine they would take it. Its really a motivational thing. Plus, if the income gap helps the economy, why would we want to decrease it? In doing so we would be hurting the economy which is what makes our country tick. I also believe that our government spends to much on programs that aren't really necessary, and they just don't have the funds to take on a project that would decrease the gap between the social classes. There isn't even a need for it. Thomas Friedman wants to raise taxes, instead of stopping trade with all countries. By doing this we would open up more markets and expand exsisting ones, which would create more jobs. This way we could expand the business profit without stopping outsourcing.
>Read more on Thomas L. Friedman
No comments:
Post a Comment