classism
The US tax, justice, economic, and political systems are just a few of the systems in place that support the wealthy people in America. The have the privilege of owning almost all of the wealth in the United States. According to statistics in the article, Imagine a Country, the top one percent actually owns the same amount of wealth as the bottom 95% (Imagine #88). This is no accident. The wealthy people are rich at the expense of the poor and working class (Divide #90). Between 1977 and 1992, the after tax income of the bottom 80% fell 2% while the after tax income of the top 1% rose 102% (Immiserating #91). Also, Capital gains tax has dropped to half of where they were in 1996 and corporate income tax is at an all time low of 6.2% (Normalizing #93). According to New York University Professor Edward N. Wolf keeping wages low has caused property income and stock prices to increase, which has shown an increased wealth in the rich (Great #90). The rich also enjoy more lenient ju!stice system. According to the Jeremy H. Reiman in his article The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison, white collar crimes cost about 200 billion dollars annually, much more than car thefts, bank robberies, and home burglaries com
acher student ratios (Imagine #88). Also, the wealthy corporations receive aid and tax breaks, while people in need are having aid that supports a hand to mouth existence severely cut. According to one 1993 study, the government grants one trillion in government subsidies, special tax breaks, and other benefits, but politicians could not find a way to reduce these benefits, however, they had no problem focusing on ways to reduce welfare benefits (Poor #101). The homeless are in the worst situation of all. Unfortuneately, our culture views homeless people with contempt. In the article, The Root Causes of Homelessness in American Cities, people have stigmatized the homeless as drunks, crazies, and lazy people who choose to not to work. The issue is much more complicated and homelessness for many people occurred after they lost their jobs or couldn't afford the high rents (Root #105). And the article makes the poignant observation that while people in the middle class people with a drinking problem as people who need treatment the homeless alcoholics as lazy drunks. If the judgments are bad the treatment of them is worse. A number of cities like San Francisco are trying to get the homeless off the streets and away from business areas where they are a nuisance and an eyesore. The article Sidewalk Mercenaries vs. Homeless describes a private security business, which ironically employs homeless people, to get homeless people loiter! While the rich are enjoying good times, the working class is having a hard time finding good jobs and making ends meet. Nearly one fourth of the workforce here now earns less in real terms than the minimum wage in 1968 (Divide #90). One of the reasons is that corporations are now using "the throw away worker" instead of full time employees. According to the article American Others, the throw away worker is the pert time temporary worker that a company uses
Some common words found in the essay are:
Poor Prison, Sidewalk Mercenaries, CEO's America, Henley Jenson, Imagine Country, Welfare Stereotypes, American Cities, Edward Wolf, Article Fall, Power Classism, homeless people, homelessness people, according article, homeless people homeless, women welfare, throw worker, welfare mom, times class, wealthy people, tax breaks, imagine #88,
Approximate Word count = 1283
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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