To begin, as many have been heard to
still say, Bill Rancic (an American
businessman),
has said, "The American Dream is still alive out there, and hard work
will get
you there. You don't necessarily need to have an Ivy League education or to
have
millions of dollars startup money. It can be done with an idea, hard work and
determination."
So it does still exist, and yet, as the BBC has reported, "the top 200
wealthiest
people in the world control more wealth than the bottom 4
billion"
(Williams). And it wouldn't be so bad if those 200 wealthiest people were
sharing their
wealth…but they really aren't. For as The Wall Street Journal has
reported,
"the top .01% or 14,000 American families hold 22.2% of wealth, and the
bottom
90%, or over 133 million families, just 4% of the nation's wealth,"
(Williams).
That simply
rings BIG TIME inequality!
"Does Income Inequality
Threaten Economic and Social Stability?" an article put
out by
Psychology Today, by Ray B. Williams, in 2010, states the following,
"Income
inequality
grew significantly in 2005, with the top 1 percent of Americans-those with
incomes
that year of more than $348,000-receiving their largest share of national
income
since 1928, analysis of newly released tax date shows…The new data also
shows that
the top 300,000 Americans collectively enjoyed almost as much income as
the bottom
150 mission Americans," (Williams). Now, all this data is great evidence
of
what is
happening, but furthermore, what does it mean for us now, and what more, for
future
generations? While it has been said by some, "that the upward
redistribution
over this
period is good, because income has risen for everyone…" (Williams), we
know, as
real, living, breathing, humans, that what is said next, is just some way to
brush over
the seemingly sad, truthful news, that there is such a large gap of income
inequality,
that the nation does not even know how to relate as a whole, to the ever
changing,
growing, financial situation. Whatever is attempting to be done does not
matter in
the least, because the truth of the matter is that at the end of the day, the
rich
are still
getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. End of story. Something needs
to happen,
and quick.
One thing that can be said is that
money does not necessarily always "buy
happiness",
or health for that manner. Take the following news that just because a
country is
the richest nation on earth does not mean it is the healthiest. "Between
1983
and 1999,
men's life expectancy decreased in more than 50 U.S. counties, …for
women, the
news was even worse: life expectancy decreased in more than 900
counties-more
than a quarter of the total. The United States no longer boasts
anywhere
near the world's longest life expectancy," (Williams). More than not
boasting
the
longest life expectancy, being the richest country does not matter much when,
"There
is also evidence that living in a society with wide disparities-in health, in
wealth,
in
education-is worse for all the society's members, even the well off."
(Williams). The
findings
of such results also point to the fact that, "high inequality reverberates
through
societies
on multiple levels, correlating with, if not causing, more crime, less
happiness,
poorer mental and physical health, less racial harmony, and less civic and
political
participation," (Williams).
The research has all been done, and
it all points to the fact that income inequality is a major problem,
nationwide. Now, of course, truly, in different geographic
locations
in the nation, the income inequality will be seen easier than in other areas.
There is a
TED Talk that touches on the subject of Geographic Locations having a
major
effect on our health and well being. In that TED Talk, Bill Davenhall gives
viewers an
equation-a formula, in which to live by. The formula is simply this, Genetics
+
Lifestyle + Environment = Risks. If we are able to manage the risks, more
likely than
not, you
will have a good life with good health. Throughout his presentation he shows
the
audience where he has lived in his life, his place history, and then what
harmful
things he
has breathed into his system in living there. His whole point is that he thinks
we should
all place a greater emphasis on place history and even make a point of
getting it
into our Medical History at the Doctor's office, because then the Doctor may
better
know and understand, based on our history, what we may be at greater risk for.
Now, with
that above tie-in, I lead into the review of another article, also from
Psychology
Today, "Income Inequality is Making Americans Sick", by Christopher
Lane,
Ph.D. in Side Effects. In beginning, the article says, "Health in America
is
determined
as much by zip code as by genetic code," (Lane). Davenhall, and any
geographical
central person, would surely agree with that statement. Each city is going
to vary
from the next, some quite a bit more than the next and others may be closer,
but
no two
cities have exactly the same case of income inequality to compare. With that
said, of
course, there are certain liabilities that stay the same across the board,
throughout
the nation,
Bridges, roads, clinics, and public
transportation and food distribution programs
decay in many US urban settings,
along with the social programs that sustained
them (Davey, 2011). Some locales
prosper, while many others face a state that
urban planners define as
"infrastructure collapse." As U.S. Housing and Urban
Development Secretary Shaun Donovan
recently put it, "you can predict the life
expectancy of a child by the zip
code in which they grew up" (Bostic & Lavizzo-
Mourey, 2011).
How sad is
that? And above all, what is the worst is it feels like nothing is happening to
fix that;
to fix that the life expectancy of a child can be predicted based on where the
child grew
up.
Another article, also from
Psychology Today, "Is Inequality Natural?", by Agustin
Fuentes,
Ph.D. tries to answer the question, "Does our evolutionary history condemn
us to
social inequality?" Again, it opens with the statistics that by this point
we know so
well,
"The top 1% of USA citizens control nearly 35% of the country's wealth and
22%
of
American children live in poverty," (Fuentes). What is even more irksome
is that Mitt
Romney has
been quoted as saying that, "the nearly half of the US population who
don't make
enough to pay income taxes are failing to take responsibility for
themselves,"
(Fuentes). Excuse me!? Why are the poor always ridiculed, poked fun of,
beat down,
and plagued by endless misfortune when the answer to changing some of
these
issues for the better would start with the rich getting off of their high
horses to
look out
for the little guy. What ever happened to, "lending a brother a helping
hand." It
seems in
this day and age, more than ever before, it is each man for him or herself.
How sad.
Works
Cited
1. Bill
Rancic. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved November 17, 2014, from
BrainyQuote.com Web site:
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/b/bill_rancic.html
Read
more at
http://www.brainyquote.com/citation/quotes/authors/b/bill_rancic.html#QeHALjCJoxkRRWYl.99
2. Ray B. Williams.
PsychologyToday.com. Retrieved November 17, 2014, from PsychologyToday.com. Web
site:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201007/does-income-inequality-threaten-economic-and-social-stability
3. Christopher Lane, Ph.D.
PsychologyToday.com Retrieved November 17, 2014, from PsychologyToday.com Web
site:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/side-effects/201402/income-inequality-is-making-americans-sick
4. Agustin Fuentes, Ph.D.
PsychologyToday.com. Retrieved November 17, 2014, from PsychologyToday.com.
Webs site:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/busting-myths-about-human-nature/201210/is-inequality-natural
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