Why Inequality Is The Biggest Problem We Are Facing Right Now

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2 years ago

In a world where the gap between the rich and the poor continues to grow, it's easy for people to get numb. The truth is that this inequality has a very real impact on our lives. Inequality is not just about money but also about access to health care, education, food security and housing. This post will explore how we can stop inequality from getting worse or even better in some cases by examining three different areas: 1) income inequality 2) racial discrimination 3) gender discrimination.

Income Inequality

"The poorest half of the world has about 1% of the global wealth, while the richest 10% owns 86% of it."

People often think that economic inequality is a topic for economists and not something they need to worry about. But according to French economist Thomas Piketty's latest book Capital in the 21st Century, there is a real danger that global wealth distribution will look like it did back during the Gilded Age. He argues that the current situation might be worse than what we are experiencing now, saying:

"Wealth accumulated in the past grows more rapidly than output and wages."

Politicians of all parties often argue that economic inequality can be reduced by creating better jobs with higher wages, but according to Piketty, this isn't exactly true because of an imbalance caused by r > g.

What does this mean? Think about it this way…let's say you start with $10 million dollars. You live on 2% of your wealth or $200,000 per year. Then you make 5% on your money or $1 million per year. Now, let's say that the rate of growth on your $10 millions dollars is 5% and you keep making $1 million each year after taxes. The total amount of wealth you own at the end of one year would be:

(10,000,000-200,000) x (1 + 5%) = 10,300,000.

Thanks to compounding , $10 million can double in 8 years rather than 80 years and this process continues until you get to a point where there is so much inequality among people that it starts hindering economic growth and reduces opportunity for everyone. To prevent such an outcome from happening we need to start having more conversations about how we can share our resources fairly.

Racial Discrimination

There are large racial disparities in the U.S. In 2019, for example, more than 131951 black people were incarcerated but only about 5800 white people were . When you look at health care disparities , or even educational ones , it's clear that racism is alive and well in the United States. Racial discrimination has real consequences on people's lives by making it harder to get jobs which leads to higher rates of poverty among black populations. Over time, this has led to inequality among races which can be difficult to reverse without addressing its root cause: institutional racism is a type of racism which is created through interactions between individuals and social institutions such as schools, courts and government organizations.

The best way to deal with institutional racism is to start talking about it. We must acknowledge that discrimination still exists in the U.S. and, once we do that, we can try to reduce its influence on our society by taking measures such as reducing recidivism rates among people of color , promoting diversity in schools and hiring more minorities .

Gender Discrimination & Gender Wage Gap

We often hear talk about income inequality but there are other types of issues related to economic status which need attention too—like gender discrimination . It's not news that women make less than men for doing the same work but did you know that, according to one research study , this type of wage gap could be explained by differences between career choices or education? That means that a lot of the time, women end up entering lower-paying fields. A less frequent but still controversial topic is that of gender discrimination.

There are quite a few recent cases about this issue. Google has been sued for paying women employees less than men and Fox News was recently accused by some former female workers of sexual harassment. In both cases, these lawsuits were settled which means there's no way to know for sure what truly happened behind closed doors, but it just goes to show how delicate topics like these can be when they have such big consequences on people's lives.

That having been said, one thing we do know is that balancing work and family life continues to be a challenge for women all over the world and it starts with getting men involved in the conversation. Women need equal opportunities to be able to prove themselves but, without support from men, that can be hard to achieve.

Wrapping Up

The big problem is that no one seems to be talking about issues like these. If there are only a few people who think the government should step in to fix this problem, then it doesn't matter how much evidence there is nothing will change. We have to come together as a society and talk about the problems we are facing so that maybe, someday, they'll be fixed.

Until then, I hope at least you now understand why inequality is such an important topic if you care about economic growth because whether you realize it or not, your life depends on solving this issue .

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2 years ago

Comments

Another good and important topic to talk about. I would just add another discrimination that's going on right now between the vaxxed and unvaxxed people.

Vaxxed are afraid of the unvaxxed. The question is why if they are fully protected. Unvaxxed are not afraid of anything and they are concidered as murderer, because they could kill other people by spreading the virus. But the vaxxed can catch it as well and spread it too.

Not everybody but the majority of vaxxed people are saying this. They should not be afraid, because they are protected. I am confused.

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2 years ago

Inequality is everywhere, like you said. We have to put effort as much as we can from our side to make something balancing. Because the one who's care could impact would never care because it will make them inferior.

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2 years ago

Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts 💭❤️ Much appreciated 👍

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2 years ago

The biggest cause of economic inequality is political power and developed countries. The system has always been based on making and keeping the rich richer and the poor poorer. Those with a lot of money earn a lot, and those with little money earn less. Naturally, crime rates are higher in people who are called lower class and have low income, because if you do not provide them with some opportunities, they go out of the law to create the opportunity. Gender discrimination and income distribution by gender is still an ongoing problem. Years ago, there would be a difference of almost 50% between my parents, who started work at the same time and did the same job, and they couldn't object to that.

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2 years ago

Political power is an easy way or source for an economy's inequality. The rich can afford to hire lobbyists for more political power, and if you don't have a lot of money you do not have much to hire them with. People with a lot of money usually have more freedom in their choice of how they spend their money, and those who are lower class are usually restricted in what they can choose to do with their money.

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2 years ago

Racism will never end but we can decrease it by good education

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2 years ago

Good education will always help in decreasing inequality but it may need some new reforms

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2 years ago