Jeff Doyle Sundol WRC 1013-11 1 Nov. 2010 Are Poor Americans Actually Poor? The number of Americans in poverty today is rather shocking. There are currently thirty-seven million Americans who are classified as being "in poverty" (Rector 2). Many Americans are classified below the line of poverty, but in retrospect to the rest of the world, Americans seem far from poor. America is considered to be upon the most prominent and successful nations in the world; so, why is over a tenth of our population deemed as "poor" by our government?
Immigrants born in India outdo others in achieving economic success in the Untied States. At the same time, Pakistan-born immigrants, while trailing behind Indians, do better than the native-born Americans. While both immigrant groups originate in South Asia, huge disparities in their economic success exist in the US that needs further exploration. The estimates reported in the 2010 American Community Survey revealed that the median salaried household income of India-born immigrants was around $94,700. In comparison, the median household income of native-born Americans was estimated at $51,750.
The distribution of power and wealth is greatly skewed and has never been so off set. Americans overlook and constantly underestimate the level of economic inequality in the United States. “From 1949 to 1979, everyone benefited from the strong economy: the poorest 20 percent of Americans gained 116 percent in terms of their before-tax incomes, while the top 20 percent gained 99 percent. But this pattern changed in the 1970s. From
What once was a country that prided itself on the possibility of anyone having a “rags to riches” story, has the face the reality that in today’s day and age, this rarely happens. With rising unemployment rates and lowered educational opportunities, Americans are losing hope. Results from a recent study found that less than fifty percent of Americans view
Have we ever had a middle class or poor president? It turns out we have, and some that have even gone bankrupt. After adjusting for inflation, the two wealthiest presidents in American history where George Washington and John F. Kennedy. Washington was worth over a half a billion dollars in today`s money. And his presidential salary was much higher than later presidents, totaling 2 percent of the U.S. budget for 1789.
After World War Two the United States of America finally seemed to prosper after the Great Depression. The 1950s became the capitalist golden age. Society was classless; there were growing numbers of white-collar jobs, high wages for blue-collar workers, and few labor strikes. Everything seemed to be great, however the growth of the affluent society put many problems in the dark. African Americans were still unequal to whites; twenty percent of the nation had been in poverty, and the defeat of Nazism and imperialism brought on a new enemy to freedom: Communism.
Jeffrey Ho Bendshadler English 50 1 March 2009 False Sense of Prosperity Due to the booming economy of postwar America during the 1950s and early 1960s, most Americans were living the American dream. “By 1960, per capita income was over $1800, $500 more than it had been in 1945.” (Brinkley, 790). The sales of private homes and automobiles increased dramatically; suburbs expansion grew rapidly; the widespread of technological advances lead many Americans to believe that prosperity was widely distributed. However, most people failed to recognize that more than 20 percent of the nation’s population was living below the poverty line. The population that was living in poverty was virtually hopeless; it was practically
This inequality within our nation is the culprit behind America’s insignificant health. “Wealthy Americans make considerably more money than their counterparts in other wealthy countries, while the bottom 10% of our households make considerably less than poor people in Europe or Japan” (Page 228). The breach between America’s poor and rich is causing the overall health to lessen. The wealthy American will spend their money on unnecessary items that they will dissipate; “as private wealth become more concentrated, the quality of public life suffers” (228). Researchers have identified an association between household income inequality and mortality rates.
“Being an American is also about making profits.” For me, being an economics major, I knew that Americans run their lives on their economic situation, and many times to make profits it is about seeing opportunities, and to some sense exploiting people, but they want to be exploited because it is called work. If people work for you and they do not produce more than they are worth, then the owner does not get a profit. You have to understand to appreciate your profit ability notion and that is all a part of being an American. This is clearly seen in the article, My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant by Jose Vargas. Jose’s driving force for staying in the United States was the ability to make profits and have a higher standard of living.
Raul Hinojosa pointed out that the reason behind the welfare increase among the majority of newly-legalized immigrants would be due to their low education and income level and not an unwillingness to work (2). The 2006 law initiative S. 2621 would have legalized approximately seven million unauthorized immigrants. The study done by the Immigration Policy Center confirms that immigrants who were legalized in 1986 under the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) had an average increase of 15 percent in their hourly wage after five years (sec. 4). This means that the legalized immigrants pay more in federal and state income taxes; in addition, because they have greater income, they also use more services and buy more goods from a wider range of businesses, which will ultimately result in the