Income Inequality Mounting Up Of The Great Gatsby

The Great Depression not only affected America, but the rest of the world as well. This global depression began in the United States in 1929 but would soon play an important role in why countries turned inward to economic independence and lead to the rise of communism. The 1920’s had Americans living in great prosperity. Consumers ruled the marketplace, buying as much as they could afford, even spending tomorrow’s wages today. Companies were about to face the grim reality that they were producing more goods than they were able to sell. People simply did not have the money to buy all these products and everyone instead began to invest their money in the stock market. In October of 1929, the stock market collapsed in America which soon would lead to the “domino effect” in Europe.

The 1920s was known for its prosperous and flamboyant lifestyle. The GDP during that time had risen by 30 percent and unemployment was as at an all-time low of 3 percent. This was not meant to last forever. In fact, it was nearly impossible for this to last any longer than it did due to an imbalance that society was unaware of including that not every citizen was experiencing this uncommon wealth. There were still 3 percent unemployed and even some of the employed members of society did not make enough to support a family and were considered homeless. It was in October of 1929 when this so-called luxurious lifestyle vanished as the stock market crashed at a time when the stock market seemed it would never stop increasing. This caused an economic, downhill, rolling ball effect. Those who took out loans to invest in stocks could not afford to repay the banks causing the banks to fail and close down. When the banks closed down, the depositors of that bank lost their life savings causing them to go broke and some company owners to close their doors. This led to a loss of jobs by the employers of those companies. This time period was known as the Great Depression and rightfully so. It is the most significant setback in the American Economy to date. The Herbert Hoover administration was in effect at this time giving the society an easy target to blame. Come time for the next election in 1932, Americans were ready for a change in authority to bring them out of this seemingly black

"Greed, as distinguished from honest reward for labor, leads to corruption. To fatten oneself on it is to be compromised."(Lathbury 64). Several characters in The Great Gatsby struggle with their obsessions with wealth. Their lives depend upon their money and what it can do for them. These obsessions lead to greed, and to the corruption of relationships and lives. In F. Scott Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby, the obsession with wealth leads to issues for many characters.

In general, people are taught to admit to their mistakes and pay a consequence; however, during the Jazz Age, the rich learned to pay off their mishaps by means of deception and wealth.

Income Inequality is a tough policy issue to tackle and relate to the texts the class has been assigned to read. This particular policy issue is rather difficult to give insight on because income inequality is widespread and immense, yet most of Washington and mainstream America will not address this critical matter in question that is happening all over the country. Beliefs are blinding the majority of America when it comes to how money is distributed throughout the social classes and minorities in this nation. Americans have a distorted view of how unequal the pay gap is between the top 20% and the bottom 40%, according to Nicholas Fitz (2015). For instance, in the first study done by Michael Dorton and Dan Ariely, 5,000 Americans guessed that the richest 20% own 59% of the wealth and the bottom 40% own 9% of the wealth (Fitz. 2015). Consequently, the actual statistics are that the top 20% own more than 84% of the wealth, whereas the bottom 40% own a scarce amount of the wealth of 0.3% (Fitz.2015). Elitist view of power, also, is another term that relates to this issue of income inequality due to how government in this country, with regards to how only a few people with power actually know economically, what is happening in America, leaving the majority of American citizens in the dark about how money flows and how discrimination of minorities is hindering their ability to earn livable wages (Fitz.2015). The Federal Poverty Level which is based on the amount of income

Income inequality has affected American citizens ever since the American Dream came to existence. The American Dream is centered around the concept of working hard and earning enough money to support a family, own a home, send children to college, and invest for retirement. Economic gains in income are one of the only possible ways to achieve enough wealth to fulfill the dream. Unfortunately, many people cannot achieve this dream due to low income. Income inequality refers to the uneven distribution of income and wealth between the social classes of American citizens. The United States has often experienced a rise in inequality as the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, increasing the unstable gap between the two classes. The

Money can buy numerous commodities. From healthy food to life insurance, from job security to sports cars, money makes up for a giant part of one’s daily life. In some situations, it even arouses emotions; that is how powerful money is. Money is available, but equity is not, social classes emerged. A social status of an individual or family can be determined by the power they hold in a particular region. Since money can rank an individual society, nothing stops it from influencing people’s behaviors. Often, the social status or wealth affects the character of a person through their. Fitzgerald portrays how the characters interact with the society depending on their wealth. The Great Gatsby, set in the 1920s, New York, displays the features of social stratification by complementing it with the development of setting and characterization of the different individuals.

The roaring 20s are often referred to as one of the most affluent and successful times in American history. However, Fitzgerald portrays it as a time when the American Dream begins to rot and decay. Values are no longer the priority--only wealth and influence. This is proven as we see Gatsby pursue Daisy despite her being married. This is also apparent as Tom, and other wealthy citizens venture into the valley of ashes, and observe the poverty and depression. They do not care that people are suffering, they provide no aide and continue to throw gaudy extravagant parties. No longer had life's goal been to raise moral young adults to become successful, it was to become rich at all costs. Do you think that the increase in wealth symbolizes an

Income inequality can be defined as the difference of distribution of assets, wealth, and income between the populations. The term income inequality refers to the inequality among persons within a society. The topic is commonly debated, and the liberties and rights of people are often brought into the debate being made. In America, it has been said that “The 400 richest people in the United States have more wealth than the bottom 150 million put together” leading the reader to believe there is a huge inequality problem that is only growing wider. There is no doubt that the income gap in America is growing, with the middle class taking home 9% less than they had in 1999, but I feel that the government does not have the obligation to lessen

Income Inequality means the uneven income is distributed among individuals in a company, groups in a population, or countries in the world. “One-fourth of American employees make less than $10 per hour, which is the income that below the Federal poverty level” (Amadeo). Those are the people like cashier, waiters, or fast food clerks. There is a huge gap between rich people and poor people. The rich people are getting richer while the poor people are getting poorer. This is a serious economic challenge that the United States has been facing for a long time period.

The 1920’s were a decade filled with affluence and the lust of doing things bigger and better. At least that’s what a novel by the name of The Great Gatsby would have you believe. The novel is representing the few rather than the many. Author F. Scott Fitzgerald depicts a rich and a poor class, but no middle class. In doing research you quickly come upon the fact that a middle class existed in the roaring 20’s. At the time it was made up by what is known as the progressives. You may question why this large group was excluded from the novel. Well a glance at the article “What is middle class, anyway?” shows you how to currently define class. The Great Gatsby is a novel overlooking an aspiring middle class which undermines the ideas of status

Income inequality is one of the largest fear mongering tactics that the left likes to use in order to advance their ideology. The differences in income in America can be attributed to many different factors, however much of the theories presented by the major distribution services do not reflect reality. Economic inequality is the difference in income between individuals across the United States. Sociologists define the social stratification of this as being the upper, middle, and lower classes. The upper class (the 1%) household makes $380,000+, with the middle class making upwards of $150,000, with the lower class being at the poverty level (around $25,000 for a family of 4 and around $20,000 for a family of three). There have been many solutions presented in order to tackle this subject, however many of them have not been practical enough to get the job done.

Income inequality is a prevalent issue in the United States. It’s a hot topic among politicians and economists. The Friends of Bernie Sanders website describes it as, “…income inequality is the great moral issue of our time, it is the great economic issue of our time, and it is the great political issue of our time (Friends of Bernie Sanders. n.d.). Income inequality is the gaps in earnings between America’s most affluent and the rest of the country (Income Inequality. N.d.)

Income inequality is the unequal distribution of household or individual income within the participants in the economy. For perspective of how unequal our country has become, an average middle-class worker earns thirty-three thousand seven hundred fifty-one dollars a year compared to the average one percent, they earn an average of one million one hundred and one thousand eighty-nine dollars a year. (Inequality for all) Robert Reich commented that as the wealth distribution gap grows, there starts to be less of a middle class. This causes are economy to weaken, due to the middle class being the back bone or foundation of this country. Reich continues to state that income inequality is at an all-time high compared to American history. Comparing the average incomes from nineteen seventy-nine to two thousand seven, the richest one percent's earnings went up by two hundred seventy five percent, compared to the bottom twenty percent, which has raised by eighteen percent. (Income Inequality) As the time stands, the gap of income inequality continues to rise, and Americans are left to question, what happens to us if it

Income inequality may be the most important and divisive topics in our society today. It has far reaching consequences that will affect all of us in the years to come. But in the future, we will all look back and think back to now, and think about how we got to where we did. How the political climate and the division of the country corrupted our ability to sort out what kind of society we want to be. The “Gotcha!” politics of today has devolved our elections and government into a popularity contest of who has the least skeletons in their closet, without much care to the actual policies of those elected. This has led to an almost inevitable spiral down to the rich in power, with everyone else fighting over petty issues. Many try to hold onto an America that only could exist in the mid-twentieth century, the America that McClelland says, “...was a historical fluke, made possible by the fact that the United States was the only country to emerge from that was with its industrial capacity intact,” (McClelland 550). That America is over, and it is time to start looking towards what the country must evolve into. That is where the issue of income inequality comes into play. We must look at its root causes, and change the system to dampen or remove those causes. More specifically, we must look at the increase in overall income of the top earners of society, the shrinking of the middle class, and the role of government in the economy.