Why Inequality Is The Biggest Problem We Are Facing Right Now

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 .