What do you think of when you hear the term American dream? Watch the video. What is wealth distribution? What does the video convey regarding what we think, what we think is right and what is reality in terms of wealth distribution in the USA? What problem does the reality pose for the American dream? Is there any danger to the top 1% if this trend continues? Is there any way to fix the problem? Any potential problems with the fix?
15 Comments
Sergio Nava (goof)
3/12/2013 09:17:23 am
Wealth distribution refers to how the nation’s money is divided into the different classes. This video explains what the average American thinks how the wealth is distributed, and it show how wrong we are and how the ideal distribution is nowhere near reality. There isn’t much of a difference between the poor and the middle class, even the rich are barely above the middle class. The big majority of the money in our country is distributed to only 10% t of our population and even worst, people with the most amount of money occupy only about 1% of our population. This is a major problem for those trying to achieve the American dream. It’s hard to advance up the wealth ladder when most of the money available in our country only 10% of people have it. If this trend continues, the top 1% will not have to worry at all; they will just keep getting richer while making it more difficult for the poor and the middle class to advance. A way to fix this is to significantly increase taxes on the top 10% of the wealthy.
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Maria Vizcaino (Blue)
3/12/2013 03:50:56 pm
The American Dream is what all people in the US hope to achieve, American or not. It is a goal most people and families strive to achieve; what they hope to gain if they work hard enough and earn enough. Wealth distribution is how all the money made is distributed between 5 categories(each 20%) the wealthy, the rich, the middle class, class between middle and poor and the poor; the US made $47 trillion and the top 1% are making 40% of that money. The video, posted by David Caraccio, makes very clear the results of their survey. The video conveys that what people would predict to be fair is a more symmetrical distribution between the five categories receiving a more equal wealth. Though they believe this to be more fair and probably how it should be, they thought that the actual distribution was skewed towards the wealthy. They believed that the wealthy has a comparable amount of money and that the poor were still above the poverty line. This is not the case. The actual distribution, according to the video, is that the wealthy have most, if not close to all, the money. The poor are under the poverty line, just scraping by with loose change in their pockets, and even the middle class isn't great. This terribly reality is discouraging to all people, except the rich. It means that they might not even have the possibility to come remotely close to the American Dream. That it really is just a dream not a goal possible to achieve in their lifetime. The Dream is having a less and less chance of becoming reality.
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Elaine Verbera
3/13/2013 06:10:20 am
The term "American Dream" makes me think of white picket fences, promotions, BBQ's, and boating for some reason. Wealth distribution is how wealth is divided for different classes of people (poor, middle class, rich, and the wealthy). The video shows that we think the distribution is certainly skewed way more towards the right, or most wealthy people in America. With all this money sitting in the hands of the wealthiest, there is so little to go around to everyone else- and so everyone else only shares 7% of the entire amount of wealth. The top 1% makes so much money off of their product or service. If this trend continues, soon everyone else would be relatively poor and there will, over time, be less an less people in able to buy the product or service and so the trend will falter and eventually wealth will be more fairly distributed. Investments might fail because there will be no money to make as it sits in someone's rich, ironed, and silk pocket, because of Pareto efficiency, they have to take from the rich people at some point. If the top 1% and wealthy people of America take a humanitarian view and spend more, this might lessen the gap and fairly distribute money. But since it seems being wealthy can be attached to being inhumane, takes and increasing government spending for helping the poor, or even a "scholarship for starting adulthood" (I wish) for the poor could help distribute wealth into the less fortunates wallets. A problem that could arise with this is a loss of motivation to make a strong start in life and rely heavily on this safety net.
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Tim
3/13/2013 09:13:42 am
(Yellow but was absent and blog stopped functioning)
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Yecenia Sanchez
3/13/2013 11:02:02 am
Wealth distribution is how our countrys money is divided within everyone in the nation. The video conveys the idea that what we believe is a reality in the wealth distribution in our country is not even close to what we picture. In reality nearly everyone is economically suffering, except for those who are among the top 2 to 5 %. Those individuals wealth is so high, they are not present on the chart. When i think about the American Dream i think about prosperity, and an eagerness to have a better, more succesfull life. I think of people who come from low income families who are willing to work to get ahead in life. I believe this has a major impact on those trying to achieve the American Dream because it is very difficult to get higher on the wealth ladder. In the video it was mentioned that the average person would have to work for nearly a month to make what the leading 1% makes in one hour. Having that said, it is almost silly to believe the american dream is achievable given the current status of our wealth distribution. I don't believe there is any danger towards the leading 1% if anything they will just continue to increase in wealth. Nothing is going to change, it's a sad truth that won't change. I agree with Sergio, a way to fix this is to raise taxes on the leading 10%. However, given the amount of power those people hold on our economy it's more than likely they will be opposed to this. The rich should be taxed, not the people working everyday who can hardly get by in life on a day to day basis.
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Lauren Sanchez
3/14/2013 09:25:09 am
When I hear the American Dream I think of people who want to accomplish something big when they have enough income. I also think of a dream that the person has wanted to accomplish. The video conveys that our perception of what is right isnt what is in reality. We dont realize that reality is much more worse than what we expect. the problem that reality has on the American dream is that a lot more people wont be able to accomplish their american dream because everything has to be paid. Nothing in this country is free; everything has a price. their is a way to fix this if the wages went up and the tax was higher for that one top percent
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Haley Raymond
3/14/2013 12:37:35 pm
From what I have seen in this video, I am not too surprised by what we have been shown. It gives a clear view of what is going on in America, and whether the wealth of the Nation is being shared 'equally' or not. It shows how most Americans believe the distribution is a bit more evenly spread out, however the chart that shows reality, brings us back down to earth. This is dangerous to the American Dream, because it prevents most Americans, who are of lower income, from achieving that American Dream they have set out to earn.
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Maria Rios
3/14/2013 01:08:47 pm
The American dream is a set of beliefs in which the United States is the country of opportunities for prosperity and success through hard work. But this is just a dream and it is far away from our reality. In the video, “Wealth inequality video goes viral” explains how the Unite States’ wealth distribution is divided very unfairly in five groups for which the bottom 80% of the population only has 7% of the nation’s wealth and the top 1% has 40%. The gap between the rich and everyone else is wider today than what the American people can possibly imagine. Also, many Americans aren’t aware of how uneven this scale is, the solution is to find a way that the bottom 80% of the population has more than the 7% of the nation’s wealth; find something more fair, not socialism, but less alarming
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Jennifer Martin
3/14/2013 02:20:26 pm
(yellow but blog stopped working and was in Catalina)
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Cheyenne Adele Rose
3/14/2013 03:22:50 pm
When I hear the term “The American Dream,” I think of a land of freedom. A place where everyone is equal, and anyone can be who they want to be and do what they want to do. The freedom of religion, freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, and the freedom to be free. Unfortunately, that’s not that’s case. Wealth distribution is how the total income of every working American in the country is distributed, and how much each of them earn. This video conveys that what we think the average wealth distribution is, what we think it should be, and what is reality is INCORRECT. The ideal is double what we think it is, and the actual distribution is so skewed it’s hard to even wrap your head around it. The idea that the top 10% is making more money in one year than the bottom 90% combined? How is that even possible? This poses quite a problem for the idea of the “American Dream,” because who wants to live the dream of being poor and living on pocket change? Because that’s really what it seems to be. A large majority of the people that move to the United States to live the American Dream are part of the lower class when it comes to income, and the poorest 10% of Americans don’t even earn enough money to register on the chart, and yet, even with change, I don’t see how the top 1% could be in any danger at all. While 80% of Americans work two jobs at minimum wage for a month in order to feed their families, the top 1% can do less than 1% of the work the average worker does, and in 1 hour, makes more money than that hard working middle class man or women makes in that month, and when a problem is this bad, I see no easy way in fixing it. Raising minimum wage is the least that could be done, and is also the easiest way, and yet, we all know it won’t be done. You know the top 1%, the ones who make millions of dollars per month? They’re the ones who are going to complain about not wanting to pay their workers more. And honestly, can anything truly be fixed in the world we live in? I don’t think so.
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Karla partida
3/14/2013 03:50:20 pm
Wht i think the american dream is, is living in a free country where there's work and all nessesaties in life, meaning the work you get will bring you enough income to sustain you and your family and be happy. Wealth distribution is the amount of money going out to everyone starting from the bottom class to the top class. As a whole America's wealth distributions is far of what we think it should which does pose a problem to those who want the American dream, come on the 1% has way more then the double of all lower classes, how are those other people ever supposed to achieve their America dream if they can barely make it by every day or month. If that 1% reaches anything higher then 40% in national wealth out whole economy will collapse because it runs on people spending and little by little there will be less people spending money on things that aren't nessesaty. Is it fixable? I think so if the government really steps in and regulates how much the 1% should be earning so that the poor raise in income and are able to spend more and live the American dream.
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Brenda Vargas
3/14/2013 04:48:24 pm
When I hear the term, "American Dream" my mind instantly thinks of a happy family. Where people are free to do as they please, as long as you have the money to do so. Unfortunately, the wealth distribution is outrageous. This video ultimately proves how wrong we ar,. by showing us what we think the wealth distribution is, and how, unfortunately, it really is. The distribution is so unevenly skewed, the truth is mind bottling. To think that the top 10% is making more money in a year, than the bottom 90% combined is criminal. Ultimately it makes the thought of achieving the "American Dream" down right an impossible thing. Especially to the 10% of Americans who come into the united states and don't even make enough to register on the chart. Dream on. 80% of Americans must work at least two minimum jobs in order to feed their family monthly, where as the 1% lives in the laps of luxury, working far less then the average worker. This is truley an issue that can't be fixed easily. Although a way to start to fix the issue would be to raise the minimum wage, and or tax the 1% far more. Although I honestly believe hardly, to nothing, will be done to resolve the issue at hand.
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Parnell Rheuport
3/15/2013 03:24:40 am
The American dream is a dead ideal unless the economy can get fixed, at which point it won’t be because there isn’t much you can do, when people save up money and nothing gets spent more needs to be printed in order to keep paying the poor families, also causing prices of good to raise at which point more money needs to be printed so people make more to pay for good and making the dollar worth less over time, it’s a never ending cycle, taxes are meant to help take money from the 1% of people who control a ton of money, but that doesn’t do much since it goes back to the government to pay for other things. Therefore the American dream is nearly impossible to achieve, and then add in years of college to get a job, at which point finding one is nearly impossible, so you’re little white picket fence dream stays a dream, nothing but a fantasy.
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Taylor Smith
3/19/2013 03:39:28 am
The American dream is an ideal living being sought after by the people of the United States. What we think this dream consists of is a free state, necessities of life, and a workplace for all individuals. Wealth distribution is the money distributed amoungst all the economical classes. However, this system of dividing money between the classes is more corrupt then we may see. The 1% is getting more than double of what the lower working classes are receiving. If the 1% reaches 40%, the economy will disintegrate. I believe the government could fix this because if they were to regulate how much the 1% really gets, then our economy wouldn't be so corrupt and more of society would be able to live the "American Dream".
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Alex Radinger
3/24/2013 02:19:11 pm
I goofed. Was in Catalina so was assigned to this blog.
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