Our Opinions!

Abbey:
I think that we really need to work at fixing the income gap. People are really suffering! But it is going to take everyone chipping in to fix it, it will take time but i believe we can do it! Its important to have a middle class.

Ally:
I personally believe that we need to figure out how to help. Most of us come from not much money. There has to be a way to decrease the gap. At least enough so its not so devistating that it can't then comepletely wipe out our middle class.

Briauna:
We need to help figure out how to close up this income gap. I think the more well off people can afford to let go some of the money they make. They make enough to where they probably wouldn't notice a small portion of it going to help out some lower class citizens. Having that middle class is very important to our economy.

Kristyn:
I think that it is sad that the middle classs is disappearing. The middle class has defined American society since the 1950's. The middle class has influenced our lives, values, and our entertainment. So, to see it disappearing is really upsetting. There should be a bigger spectrum of wages.

Brianna:
I think that there should be a solution to the income gap. The gap should be minimized. We are losing the middle class because of this gap. I think that if there are little things we can do to fix this gap, then they should be put into effect. 

Tiya:
I think that if we look at all of the reason as of why there's an income gap then maybe we together as a whole could come up with a plan that could resolve this problem. I mean but the way today's people are they're stingy, so they don't care what anyone else makes its just about them.

Income Inequalities? Why is this raising?

If you think about the economy you think about the money involved and the debt, and wonder how much debt there is, and why is there so much. Then you think about where is all the money being spent and if not being spent, where is that money, and a number of other questions some of which lead to other questions, among other questions, and there are WAYYYY to many questions we could get into about it, and some are WAYYYY too sophisticated to get into. So, we’ll start with, WHY is there an income inequality.

Well, to be quite blunt with you there are many reason as of why there is an income inequality. But I mean I could give you a start and a number of answers. In the National Bureau of Economic Reasearch they state that "In Controversies about the Rise of American Inequality: A Survey (NBER Working Paper No. 13982), authors Robert J. Gordon and Ian Dew-Becker provide a comprehensive survey of seven aspects of seven aspects of rising inequality are usually discussed separately: changes in labor's share of income; inequality at the bottom of the income distribution, including labor mobility; skill-biased technical change; inequality among high income groups; consumption inequality;geographical inequality; and international differences in income distribution, particularly at the top." So this means that there are 7 basic reasons as of why there is an inequality income and why it's rising.

I’m now going to discuss some of the reason as of why its raising.

One of which is "Changes/Decline in labor's share of income." The change was caused by a number of factors. Some of which were the tech used to create goods and services, increased globalization, developments in labor market institutions.

And another would be “inequality at the bottom of the income distribution”. There’s a lot of people at the bottom who some are making more than others and not getting what they are deserving. Which is unfair but hey, it’s Society.

Income Gap continues to grow!

Even though the United States is the richest country in the world, we suffer from one of the highest levels of income inequality in the world. Income inequality is now at its highest point since the Great Depression as the income gap grows between the rich and the poor. Between 2008-2012 the poorest fifth of households had an average income of $20,510 compared to the top fifth income of $164,490. Globalization, technological advancements, fewer unions, rising health insurance costs, increased competition from low-skilled immigrants, and a declining education system have caused wages to decrease for a majority of Americans.
If the federal minimum wage was raised there would be an immediate solution to the income inequality.




http://ivn.us/2012/11/24/nationwide-studies-show-the-income-gap-continues-to-grow/

How is income gap measured?

How is income gap measured?

The income gap is, measured by the amount of money made by a group as compared to another group in society. The gap comes from the difference in money between the social classes. Now the question is, is this an effective way of measuring the gap? For the most part the answer to this question is yes. It’s pretty dependable, as long as numerous salaries are pulled and the math is done right. However you could disagree, comment saying what your Opinion is of the way the income gap is measured or how it should be measured.

Here is a picture to help demonstrate this process:



This picture also depics the way the income gap has decreased and then grow since the Great Depression.

Income gap between the States

    There is a huge income gay between the rich and poor. What's the gap like between the states? Which States have a high gap? A low gap? What factors affect the gap? Well, the most populous states have some of the widest gaps. A higher population leads to a better chance of poor rural areas and wealthy suburbs surrounding cities. Education also contributes to which states have the highest income gap. Less educated states (California, Texas and Mississippi) have a higher income gap. The list doesn't lie.
    New York has the highest income gap, with 14.1 percent of the population living below the poverty line. Conneticut, a state with the reputation of being wealthy, is number two on the list. Their median income is the 4th highest, however, and 10.3% of the entire state makes $200,000 a year. Louisiana is lucky number three, with a huge rate of the population living below the poverty line at a staggering 17.7%. Massachusetts is 4th and the sunshine state of Florida is number 5. 12.4% of Floridians recieve food stamps. DC, while not a state, ironically has the highest income gap with a gini coefficient of .532, which is a .033 increase from the .499 of New York. Most of the other states vary from .013 to .001, just to put that in perspective.The state with the smallest income gap? Utah.


http://www.nbcnews.com/business/states-widest-gap-between-rich-poor-815945

This graph shows us what kind of money everyone actually makes, what people think they make, and what we say it should be. Do you agree with what we think it should be?

This is showing us how equality for income is spread throughout the US. Why do you think some places are more equal than others?

infographics