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Power and Inequality

Ethan Sullivan
12/10/15
Humanities
The other day, my brother and I were walking through Schneider Park in Durango,
Colorado, my home town, when we encountered several homeless people sitting at a picnic table.
This is a fairly common sight in this park. Whenever I see them, I think of how fortunate I am to
have a home, warmth, and everything I could possibly need. The contrast between me and them
seems glaring, but the fact is that there are even bigger contrasts of wealth in our society. In the
film Inequality for All, Robert Reich, the narrator, states that a single top income America could
by housing for EVERY homeless person in America. Many people may say that someone that
wealthy got that way from hard work. The American Dream, after all, is based on the idea that
hard work equals financial success, but this is rarely true.
The fact is that the growing income gap in the United States between the wealthy and
poor is wider than its ever been in our country and continues to grow by the day, not from a
difference in work ethics, but from a number of past policies that caused the wealthy to
increasingly get wealthier. These policies cut benefits to poor people and lowered taxes for the
rich. In Howard Zinns book A Peoples History of the United States, he states that Under
Reagan and Bush this concern for the economy, which was a short-hand term for corporate
profit, dominated any concern for workers or consumers. Although Reagan and the Bushes did
have a concern for the economy and truly believed that their policies would benefit everyone, it
is clear that these policies have monumentally failed. For example, Robert Reichs website
Inequality for All reports that an average CEO in this country makes five thousand dollars per
hour compared to $7.25 for minimum wage workers. Compare that to the fact from 1948-1973,
CEO and other high income salaries and low income salaries grew at about the same rate
(Economic Policy Institute). After 1973, because of these policies, the salaries began to grow
apart. It is time for this inequality to change.
In order to solve the issue of income inequality in America we need to eliminate
loopholes that allow the wealthiest Americans to escape paying high taxes and restore the middle
class in America to create fair wealth distribution.
Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush implemented policies that resulted in the
wealthy having too much power. Ronald Reagans economic policy, known as Trickle Down
Economics or Reaganomics, cut benefits to the poor and lowered taxes on the rich because if
taxes were lower for the wealthy, business could produce more income, which would trickle
down and increase employment and worker pay. According to Howard Zinns book A Young
Peoples History of the United States, a significant reason Ronald Reagan did this was to free up
military spending; however, the result was that more than a million children lost free school

lunches and welfare programs (AFDC) came under attack. Soon after that, twelve million
children were living poverty. Thus, the great income divide began.
Following Reagan, George Bush Sr. and George W. Bush implemented tax cuts and
fiscal policies that furthered this gap. George Bush Sr.s tax plan cut capital gains tax on those
who earn $200 thousand or more per year. George W. Bush followed his fathers legacy with his
tax cuts favoring the wealthy, as well. According to the article, The legacy of the Bush Tax
Cuts, in Four Charts, by Zachary Goldfarb, the Bush tax cuts benefiting the wealthy have
largely contributed to income inequality and as a result the wealthiest 1% of Americans own
about 63% of the wealth, which is outrageous. This kind of wealth is not the result of hard
work or achieving the American Dream. It is the result of a rigged system. It is time to restore the
middle class and make the ability to succeed fair again.
There is no better time to right this wrong than in the 2016 presidential election. A viable
solution to addressing income inequality in America is presidential candidate Senator Bernie
Sanders tax plan. Senator Sanders tax plan taxes the wealthiest Americans at higher rates,
without affecting the upper middle class, middle class, or poor. With this tax plan, multimillionaires and billionaires would have loopholes closed that are allowing them to avoid taxes,
and a new billionaire surtax at 10% that would only impact 530 billionaires who together are
worth a combined 2.6 trillion dollars. This alone would be a major step in the direction of
creating economic equality..Also, the disappearing middle class would be restored, which is
crucial in creating economic equality. Inequality for All emphasizes throughout the whole film
that our economy cannot survive if we dont have a thriving middle class and that we need to
focus on bringing the middle class back to life.The middle class is crucial to a thriving economy
because that is the group that buys the most goods and services, and when they stop buying, the
whole economy can be dragged down (Madland). Also, a strong middle class is important to
innovation and fostering education in our country (Madland). Lowering taxes on the wealthy
has contributed largely to income inequality in America and a good way to start creating more
equality financially is to tax the top 1% of Americans at high rates. Some fiscal conservatives
argue that it is not the governments job to ensure economic equality in America, but the fact is
that the government has been involved in rigging the economic system for the past several
decades. Furthermore, in the 1950s, which is considered one the most prosperous times in
America, the wealthy were taxed at a rate of up to 91% (Economic Policy Institute). Under
Sanders plan, there would still be wealth distribution, and people would reap the benefits of hard
work, but more people would have the ability to achieve a solid middle class lifestyle.
In America, one of the core values is equality and opportunity for all, but this value has
been lost in the past 30 years. With Senator Sanders tax plan, equal wealth distribution would be
created again, and more people would be given the opportunities that they need to succeed and
live the American Dream, a dream where hard work can pay off.

Work Cited

Goldfarb, Zachary. "The Legacy of the Bush Tax Cuts, in Four Charts." Washington Post. The
Washington Post, January 2, 2013.. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/01/02/the-legacy-of-the-bush-tax-cuts-infour-charts/
Inequality for All http://inequalityforall.com/. Anchor Bay Entertainment. Starring Robert
Reich. Film. 2013.
Madland, David. Middle Class Grows the Economy, Not the Rich. December 11, 2011. Center
for American Progress. Web.
Michel, Lawrence. The Wedges between Productivity and Median Compensation Growth.
April 26, 2012. Economic Policy Institute. Web.
Zinn, Howard. A Peoples History of the United States. Harper: New York. 1995.