Income Inequality

Income Inequality Michael Kessler ENG W131 Income Inequality; coto2.wordpress.com

Table of Images Audience Background What is income inequality? Income Inequality-data Income Inequality-data 2 Income Inequality-data 3 Causes of Income Inequality Causes - Governmental Policies Causes – Tax Policies Causes – Tax Policies 2 Causes - Decline of the Unions Negative effects of Income Inequality – Economics Negative effects of Income Inequality – Health Negative effects of Income Inequality – crime Negative effects of Income Inequality-Corruption of Politics Negative effects of Income Inequality-Political Polarization Negative effects of Income Inequality-Additional/Summary Conclusion and Summary Works Cited Table of Contents

Cover Slide: Income Inequality; coto2.wordpress.com Image 1: Occupy protestors in Washington DCwww.huffingtonpost.com Image 2 - Income inequality graph; www.inequality.org Image 3 - YouTube video; www.youtube.com Image 4 - Graph; Business Insider Image 5 - YouTube Video; www.youtube.com Image 6 - PBS News Hour YouTube Video; www.youtube.com Image 7 - YouTube Video; www.youtube.com Image 8 - blog; www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry Image 9 - podcast; www.castroller.com/Podcasts Image 10 - magazine article; The Nation Image 11 – Warren Buffett’s op-ed; The New York Times Image 12 - Chart of unions/middle class/top 1%; www.thinkprogress.org Image 13 - Image of article; www.motherjones.com Image 14 - chart showing relationship between negative health and inequality; Pickett Image 15 - magazine article; Business magazine Image 16 - New York Times article; www.nytimes.com Image 17 - Chart; Journal of Politics Image 18 - Summary Slide; http://www.ted.com Table of Images

Audience • This presentation is aimed at anyone who is interested in what is going on with our economy and those that are concerned with how current policies and trends could impact all of our futures. • The main goal of this presentation was to learn about income inequality, it’s effects, and to bring to light one of the major problems facing the United States today.

I grew interested in learning about the Occupy Wall Street Protest Movement after seeing news stories about it. As I researched the movement, I determined it would be impossible to cover all of their concerns in one presentation. I decided to focus on their concern of Income inequality/disparity in the United States. Background Image 1: Occupy protestors in Washington DCwww.huffingtonpost.com

What is Income Inequality? • Income inequality: refers to the extent to which income is distributed in an uneven manner among a population. • In the United States the gap between the rich and everyone else, has been growing over the past 30 years. (Income Inequality) Image 2 - Income inequality graph; www.inequality.org

Income inequality-data • Once I learned what income inequality is, I wanted to learn more about the United States’ income inequality. • This YouTube video showed me graphs, statistics, and data on how income inequality has changed throughout the last several decades. Image 3 - YouTube video; www.youtube.com

Income inequality-data 2 • This article showed me how much worse income inequality is than what I’d previously thought. • 50% of all the people in the U.S. only has 2.5% of the wealth! • 90% of the population only has 28% • The top 10% has 72% • The top 1% controls 33.8% of the wealth(Lubin) Image 4 - Graph; Business Insider

Income inequality-data 3 • This is video showed me: • The richest 1% of the population now own 1/3 of U.S. net worth. • Income of the least wealthy has dropped 10%(OWS Explained) • How the gap has widened over the years. Image 5 - YouTube Video; www.youtube.com

Causes of Income Inequality • After seeing the data on income inequality, I wanted to learn some of the causes. • This PBS News Hour video showed me: • statistical data of increasing income inequality • the policies, corporate culture of greed, and increased globalization that have helped to caused it. Image 6 - PBS News Hour YouTube Video; www.youtube.com

Causes-Governmental Policies • This YouTube video of an interview with a Chief Economist discusses: • how Wall Street bankers have greatly benefited by governmental policies • how policies benefit the wealthy while the rest of the country suffers. Image 7 - YouTube Video; www.youtube.com

Causes – Tax Policies • This blog and podcast showed me: • social security taxes are setup with a taxable income cap at $107,000 • an individual making billions of dollars pays no more than someone making $107,000. • making their percentages of taxes much lower than poorer income classes. • The podcast also discusses how the wealthy have an entire “wealth defense industry” • It’s sole purpose is to come up with ways (in many cases illegally) for the wealthy to avoid paying taxes. Image 8 - blog; www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry Image 9 - podcast; www.castroller.com/Podcasts/

Causes – Tax Policies 2 • I read a magazine article that described • income of the wealthy is taxed at a much lower rate than everybody else’s due to capital gains (investment income) being taxed at only 15%.(Anderson) • Most income of the wealthy comes from investment income, not wages. • the wealthy end up paying a lot lower percentage of their income in taxes compared to those that earn their living from wages. • This was the impetus behind Warren Buffett’s (the world’s 3rd richest man) now famous op-ed. • He stated that the rich are being “coddled”, • stated the wealthy actually pay less taxes (based on percentage) then their secretaries do. (Buffett) Image 10 - magazine article; The Nation Image 11 – Warren Buffett’s op-ed; The New York Times

Causes - Decline of Unions • The decline of unions (which helped to build the middle class) have contributed to income inequality. • As union membership has decreased, the middle classes share of national income has also decreased. • During the same time period the top 1%’s share of national income dramatically increased. Image 12 - Chart of unions/middle class/top 1%; www.thinkprogress.org

Negative Effects of Income Inequality – Economics • Income inequality has a negative impact on economic growth. • This article from Mother Jones discusses a study by the International Monetary Fund that shows countries with lower inequality do better at sustaining economic growth. Image 13 - Image of article; www.motherjones.com

Negative effects of Income Inequality – Health • Many articles show a connection between income inequality and high levels of health problems • This study describes data showing increase in: • infant mortality rates • low birth weight • poor mental health • other negative impacts on children’s overall wellbeing • closely corresponded with increased income inequality. (Pickett) • Childhood health problems then cause increased health issues in adulthood which tends to perpetuate the cycle. Image 14 - chart showing relationship between negative health and inequality; Pickett

Negative Effects of Income Inequality – Crime • This article showed me • correlation between income inequality and crime. • studies that have statistically proven as income inequality increases, so do crime rates. Image 15 - magazine article; Business

Negative effects of Income Inequality-Corruption of Politics • This article showed me income disparity leads to corruption of political processes. • The wealthy can now anonymously give endless amounts of money to influence political elections for their own purposes due to the Citizen’s United ruling. • This allows corporations and the wealthy “buy off” politicians via undisclosed no-limit donations to superPACs. Image 16 - New York Times article; www.nytimes.com

Negative effects of Income Inequality - Political Polarization • This article showed me that as the U.S. inequality increased, political parties have become more polarized. • This is primarily due to increasing differences between the interests of rich campaign contributors and the rest of the populace. • It also touches on the fact that legislation to deal with the country’s problems becomes increasingly difficult with intransigent politicians. Image 17 - Chart; Journal of Politics

Negative effects of Income Inequality-Additional/Summary • An excellent TED conference sums up many negative affects of income inequality. • It goes through the statistics, charts, and graphs that that show the greater the income inequality in a country, the more problems they will tend to have over multiple areas across it’s society. Image 18 - Summary Slide; http://www.ted.com

Conclusion and Summary • Income inequality: • has been an historic problem • Increasing over multiple decades. • is caused by • decline in unions • culture of corporate greed • governmental polices • tax policies • globalization • has negative effects on • our economy • health • crime • politics • many social issues • many other areas of society • In general, increased income inequality is not sustainable and will be a detriment to the United States.

Learning Blog • This is a learning blog I created that follows my path as I worked to put together this presentation http://mike-kessler.blogspot.com

Works Cited • Anderson, Sarah, and Sam Pizzigati. "Ending Plutocracy: A 12-Step Program. (Cover Story)." Nation 286.25 (2008): 30-32. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. Helmke Library, Ft. Wayne, IN. Web. 22 Nov. 2011 • Bernasek, Anna. "Income Inequality, and Its Cost." nytimes.com. The New York Times Company, 25 June 2006. Web. 24 Nov. 2011. <www.nytimes.com> • Buffett, Warren E. "Stop Coddling the Super-Rich." New York Times 15 Aug. 2011: 21. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. Helmke Library, Ft. Wayne, IN. Web. 21 Nov. 2011. • Garand, James C. "Income Inequality, Party Polarization, And Roll-Call Voting In The U.S. Senate." Journal Of Politics 72.4 (2010): 1109-1128. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. Helmke Library, Ft. Wayne, IN. Web. 24 Nov. 2011. • Harkinson, Josh. "Study: Income Inequality Kills Economic Growth." MotherJones.com. Mother Jones and the Foundation for National Progress, 4 Oct. 2011. Web. 24 Nov. 2011. • "Income Disparity and U.S. Political Economy-Podcast" WBEZ 91.5 Public Radio. Chicago Public Media, 9 Nov. 2011. Web. 22 Nov. 2011.<www.castroller.com/Podcasts> <www.wbez.org> • "Income Inequality." Inequality.org. n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2011. <www.inequality.org> • Jilani, Zaid. "CHART: How Income Inequality Skyrocketed And The 1 Percent Profited From The Decline Of Unions." ThinkProgress.org. Center for American Progress Action Fund, 21 Oct. 2011. Web. 23 Nov. 2011. <www.thinkprogress.org> • Johnson, Dave. "Close the Social Security "Cap" Tax Loophole!" ourfuture.org. Change for America's Future, 1 June 2011. Web. 25 Nov. 2011. www.ourfuture.org • Laudy, H/T. “Income Gap More Like an Abyss.” Wordpress.com. COTO Report Blog, 28 Sept. 2010. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. <coto2.wordpress.com> • Lubin, Gus. "15 Mind-Blowing Facts About Wealth And Inequality In America." BusinessInsider.com. Business Insider, Inc., 9 April 2010. Web. 21 Nov. 2011. <www.BusinessInsider.com> • "OWS Explained: 1% vs 99%" YouTube.com. The Guardian. 17 Nov. 2011. Web. 23 Nov. 2011. <www.YouTube.com> • Pickett, Kate E., and Richard G. Wilkinson."Child Wellbeing And Income Inequality In Rich Societies: Ecological Cross Sectional Study." BMJ: British Medical Journal (International Edition) 335.7629 (2007): 1080-1085. Academic Search Premier. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. • "Recession Brings Widest Income Inequality Gap Ever." YouTube.com. PBS NewsHour. 28 Sept. 2010. Web. 21 Nov. 2011. <www.youtube.com> • "The Best of Occupy Wall Street (PHOTOS)." HuffingtonPost.com. The Huffington Post, 15 Nov. 2011. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. <www.huffingtonpost.com> • "Trends in Income Inequality." YouTube.com. n.p. 10 Dec. 2010. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. <http://www.youtube.com> • "US worst income disparity in world." YouTube.com. R.T. America. 8 Dec. 2010. Web. 21 Nov. 2011. <www.youtube.com> • Wilkinson, Richard. "How economic inequality harms societies." TED.com. TED Confrences, LLC., Oct. 2011. Web. 24 Nov. 2011. <www.ted.com> • Yalnizyan, Armine. "Inequality Is Bad For Business." Canadian Business 84.14 (2011): 12-13. Academic Search Premier. Helmke Library, Ft. Wayne, IN. Web. 23 Nov. 2011.

Income Inequality