Income Distribution in the United States

                                              

            There is a lot of inequality in income distribution in America. Though researchers had earlier argued that income inequality had some benefits to the nation, they later reconsidered their claims and concluded that it caused more disadvantages than advantages. It was viewed as a tool of promoting accumulation of wealth to some individuals who would establish companies and manufacturing industries in order to provide job opportunities to other people within the nation.

            However, it was later discovered that most of the rich people invested in economic sectors which brought little benefits to the other members of the state. For instance, many of them invested in building vacation homes whereby the only people who would get employed in such homes were few caretakers who would ensure welfare of the tenants. Therefore, inequality in income distribution proved to be a major challenge to the overall development of the economy of the United States (Beeghley).

            According to a research which was conducted by a student in the University of California from 2009 to 2010, it showed that inequality in income distribution within the nation was increasing. The research revealed that among the top one percent richest people in the states, incomes rose by 31.4%. Moreover, the rest of the population experienced an income growth of only 0.4%. This shows that the fate of the economy of the nation would be determined by the actions of very few people (Stiglitz). There arose debates concerning the pattern of income distribution whereby some people argued that inequality in income distribution would lead to oppression of the workers in the United States (Krugman). They said that it couldn’t be fair for workers to help the owners of the prominent companies they work in to acquire more wealth while they get paid very little wages. Therefore, they anticipated for change in order to ensure even distribution of incomes to all citizens. However, other people had contrary opinions that the income distribution in the nation was fair since all citizens were being given same opportunities to compete for being the top richest people. They suggested that inequality was a form of reward to the hardworking people in the society who managed to use innovative and creative methods to become rich.

Positive Effect of Inequality in Income Distribution

1.      It Promotes Competition

            Inequality in income distribution triggers the necessity for people to compete in occupying the top position in the hierarchy of richness. Many people would become motivated to work harder in order get a chance of enjoying the privileges which are provided to the top richest people within the state. Therefore, many investors would become motivated to expand their businesses in order to earn more income. After expansion of their businesses, they would require workers to manage and coordinate all the activities which are done the premises. This would provide job opportunities to many citizens hence helping them to improve their living standards. They may also require buying machines in order to ensure effectiveness in executing all activities within their business premises. This would promote the industrial sector within the nation since it would have obtained a ready market for selling their products. Therefore, it would lead to improvement in the overall economy of the nation and reduce the dependency level of the citizens (Krugman).

Negative Effects of Inequality in Income Distribution

1.      Increase in Dependency Level

            Inequality in income distribution would lead to the economy of the country being controlled by few people within the nation. Therefore, majority of the citizens would become middle and lower income earners. This means that they would be struggling to meet their basic needs such as buying food and clothing. It would become necessary for them to depend on the government and the few people who control the economy of the nation for job opportunities. Therefore, the government would become overloaded with burdens of helping large number of the citizens to get job opportunities and providing relief food and clothing for them. This would make the large portion of the government’s budget to be allocated to helping the poor instead of developing infrastructure and other economic sectors.  

2.      Oppression of Workers by their Employers

            Inequality of income distribution would lead to high number of jobless people within the nation. Therefore, many workers would become desperate for getting job opportunities to a point of agreeing to work for extra hours without being paid in order to please their bosses and secure their jobs. The employers would become willing to sack any employee who does not show extra effort in doing his job in order to employ those who are willing to work for extra hours without being paid. This would lead to violation of the rights of many employees since their fate would be determined by the attitude of their employers towards them. Many people would also become forced to work for little wages since claiming of an increase might make them to get sacked. Therefore, it would become hard for them to improve their living standards since the money which they obtain from their jobs would not be enough to meet their basic needs and facilitate for development projects in their homes. Many citizens would start living in poor conditions hence leading to overall decline of the economy of the nation (Baudot).

3.      Violation of Rights of Children

            All children within the United States are entitled to rights to education and good health. This can only be achieved when their parents or guardians are financially stable. Therefore, if they become lower income earners due to inequality in income distribution within the nation, it would result to challenges in ensuring proper health and paying school fees for their children. Some children would become disadvantaged while others would enjoy all the privileges provided under their rights (Zweig). For instance, the children of the rich people within the nation would enjoy the privilege of being taught by highly qualified teachers and obtain mentorship from the most successful people since their parents are financially stable and they can cater for all expenses incurred. However, the children of the poor people might not be able to complete their studies since their parents would not be able to pay school fees for them. Many of them opt to drop out of school in order to look for jobs to support their parents. Others choose to be working part-time in order to get money to pay their school fees. This would affect their performance in class negatively since they would be motivated to work in order to earn more money than engaging in studies. They would also be having little time for resting and doing their homework hence making them unsettled when they report to school (Hine).

4.      Increase of Division in Social Classes

            Inequality in income distribution would lead some people to acquire more wealth while others continue to become poorer. This would lead to division in social classes within the nation whereby the gap between the rich, the middle income earners, and the lower income earners would continue to increase. This would cause decline of the economy of the nation since it would lower the possibility of interactions between all citizens in order to help one another to improve their living standards. The rich people tend to discriminate the poor and avoid being associated with them hence avoiding interacting with them. Therefore, it would become hard for the poor people to get jobs in order to cater for their basic needs since they depend on the rich ones for provision of job opportunities (Krugman).

Conclusion

            The United States of America is faced by a lot of challenges in ensuring even distribution of incomes among its citizens. This has led to difficulties in improving the economy of the nation further since its fate is determined by few people within the society. The top richest people control the largest percentage of all incomes within the nation. Therefore, the economy of the nation is greatly influenced only little percentage of the whole population and their actions determine whether it would improve or decline.

            The richest people have started investing in economic sectors which help only few people within the nation instead of promoting employment of many citizens. This has led to increase in dependency level of the citizens hence giving the government a burden of helping many people to meet their basic needs. It has also exposed children to violation of their rights since many of them become unable to complete their studies due to the inability of their parents to support them financially.