Preview

Dr Parenti Wealth

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
816 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Dr Parenti Wealth
In this essay I intend to explain what Dr. Parenti’s position on wealth versus want in the United States, how those two ideas work with each other and against each other to undermine the three fundamental principles of democracy. Wealth as defined by Dr. Parenti can be found in the opening pages of chapter four when he goes into detail about the class system that exists in the United States. The United States has been touted as a nation of middle class citizens, Dr. Parenti argues that this hasn’t been the case in many decades and will only get worse as time goes one. Rather than have an upper, middle and lower class system, we have an owning class, employee class and finally the serfs or laborers.

Dr. Parenti takes the consideration to mention …show more content…
Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much higher consideration.” For decades economists and political theorists have been debating and justifying the widening income gap between the richest and the poorest in this country. Focusing on capital, what they own on paper according to government is not the way that we measure wealth in the world because ultimately having all the resources in the world that just sit there doing nothing doesn’t earn any …show more content…
The needs and wants of Americans coupled with buying power have created demands in every industry. Under capitalism, businesses of all sizes can’t suffer from stagnation, if a business isn’t morphing, growing and maintaining high profits, no matter it’s size it will not grow leaving itself open for consumption from other more adaptable businesses.

The current big business climate is littered with hostile takeovers, mergers, acquisitions, denying workers fair pay and a litany of other ethical crimes. The myth of American affluence is a true story for an incredibly small number of people. A minority of a minority control the money in this country and they use that wealth to cultivate massive amounts of influence and power. The three fundamental principles explained in The Struggle Democracy are saturated with exceptions and dirty dealings because of corporate capitalism and “...[It] deserves our
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The Big Sellout Film Analysis
    • 300 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Big Sellout Film Analysis

    As the economy grows, capitalist invests capital into production, which generates more capital. Capitalist can make more money by investing money in the production of goods. “The question is what is the human cost of turning money into more money?”…

    • 300 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis Of The Essay 'Richer And Poorer'
    • 727 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Rhetorical Analysis Of The Essay 'Richer And Poorer'

    Moreover, Mrs. Jill Lepore addresses that "Income inequality is greater in the United States than in any other democracy in the developed world"(Lepore 1)…

    • 727 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Joseph Reich Rich Get Richer Essay
    • 1475 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Joseph Reich Rich Get Richer Essay

    A recent study done by Marco Cagetti of the Chicago Fed, illustrates that among members of the Organization For Economic Co-operation and Development, otherwise known as the OECD, the United States holds the most uneven distribution of income and wealth. A disproportionate spread of wealth is an issue citizens of the United States understand very well as this issue has made headlines and gained notoriety recently with the Occupy Wall Street movement. A certain economist, Joseph Reich, discusses the causes and effects of this uneven distribution of wealth in America as early as 1991 in his essay “Why the Rich are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer.” Reich’s essay was not only relevant when written over a decade ago, but also remains pertinent to the current economic status of America today. To portray the relationship between the rich as they continued to gain wealth and the poor as they continue to decline economically, Reich utilizes a metaphor of three different boats rising and sinking with the tide.…

    • 1475 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Gatsby ADQ
    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Gatsby ADQ

    The American Constitution asserts the equality and freedom among all people. The shared dreams of millions as well as that of a nation were and are based off of this very document. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, “The Great Gatsby”, reveals the American Constitution, or rather the American Dream, for the myth that is has always been by exposing the present distinctions between social classes. The Great Gatsby offers the insignificant details senselessness of the rich, the excessiveness of their parties and the criminal activities in which many obtained their funds for such senseless behaviors. The American Dream is certainly a myth because, although some are successful, it is unattainable for the overwhelming majority of the aspiring lower class.…

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Best Essays

    wealth inequality in america
    • 1528 Words
    • 5 Pages

    wealth inequality in america

    In today’s capitalist economy, where economic transactions and business in general is centered on self-interest, there is a natural tendency for some people to make more than others. That is the basis for the “American Dream,” where people, if they worked hard, could make money proportional to their effort. However, what happens when this natural occurrence grows disproportional in its allocation of wealth within a society? The resulting issue becomes income inequality. Where a small portion of the population, own the majority of the wealth and the majority of the population own only a fraction of what the rich own. This prominent issue has always been the subject of social tension from even before the French Revolution and spawns numerous other social issues in a society. In the more recent Occupy Movement, beginning in 2011, protesters used income inequality as a motive. Moreover, they were justified in doing so. In a 2010 statistic, it was revealed that the top 1% of America, own 35% of the wealth while the lower 80%, over the majority of the population, only have 11% of the nation’s wealth distributed between them. Financially the situation is even worse where the bottom 80% own only 5% of the financial wealth and the top 1% own 42% of the Nation’s financial wealth. Not to say the top 1% didn’t work hard to get to where they are, but according to the ideals of the “American Dream,” the top 1% should have worked 243 times harder than the average, not the poorest, worker in America. This extreme of disproportional wealth distribution is not only a source of social conflict, but a catalyst for various other problems that exist.…

    • 1528 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Best Essays
    Read More
  • Best Essays

    American Democracy: a Real Democracy or Hidden Oligarchy?
    • 3373 Words
    • 14 Pages

    American Democracy: a Real Democracy or Hidden Oligarchy?

    But today, the politically powerful and wealthy dominate our society, economy, and government. The powerful minority or the social class has never been more distinct and disturbing in the American society than it is now. The nation is divided not only by partisan politics, culture, race, religion, and age, it is divided by what we do or what we have – or do not have. Political, business, and academic elites have embraced the vision of the world that supersedes our mere nation with the only goal of making money and power, erasing the middle class, and crating a proletariat deprived of economic opportunity, fair wages, and voice in Washington D.C. But is that a true state of democracy that United States of America has built on or it’s just a façade that induces passive acceptance of the elite rule? The media, education system, campaign industry, and government leaders constantly shape the American politics changing it to a form, far more different than the democratic theory, a form also known as oligarchy.…

    • 3373 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Best Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Inequality In Thomas Pikety's Capital In The Twenty-First Century
    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Inequality In Thomas Pikety's Capital In The Twenty-First Century

    Thomas Piketty’s recent book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, charts the distribution of wealth over time, within and across countries. His contribution to our understanding of wealth and wealth inequality has rekindled a debate about societal and global inequality and the role of international institutions not seen since the early days of the United Nations. In light of the 2008 global recession, recovery, and national efforts addressing the economic organization of society, Piketty’s research is especially timely.…

    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    THE RICH KEEP GETTING RICHER
    • 993 Words
    • 3 Pages

    THE RICH KEEP GETTING RICHER

    Cited: Reich, Robert B. "Why the Rich Are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer." A World Of Ideas, Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. Boston: Bedford Books, 1998. 251-275.…

    • 993 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Privileged Position of Business
    • 1246 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Privileged Position of Business

    Corporations “predominance in lobbying policy makers” is a powerful instrument, making sure to be heard in the political field to protect their own interests. Hudson recognizes lobbyists to be part of pressure groups interested in what government politicians do for my business. When corporations lobby they effect the economical, social, and political composition of how Congress may vote for a particular bill on the floor. Also, lobbyist groups are not on level ground, large businesses have more money than small ones, small ones have more money than start ups, and start ups have more money than non – profit social programs. The individual voter has no chance; true democracy is a dream, only when a large group of individual voters protest are they heard.…

    • 1246 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Money and Class in america, the great gatsby
    • 591 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Money and Class in america, the great gatsby

    In “Money and class in America” a book by Lewis Lapham, Lapham tells us his observations on how Americans view wealth, how Americans are “deflected by the pursuit of money”. In The Great Gatsby, it is shown just how wealth creates social ranks and affects society…

    • 591 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    US Democracy and Rhetoric
    • 514 Words
    • 2 Pages

    US Democracy and Rhetoric

    Corporations have special privileges and there are real social structures. Certainly not every person in the United States is treated equally and as for the right to vote, Winston Churchill once said, “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.” In July, President Jimmy Carter said “America has no functioning democracy” at a meeting of The Atlantic Bridge in Atlanta. This was a couple months after the NSA revelations were brought to light by Edward Snowden. Noam Chomsky has said “In the US, there is basically one party – the business party. It has two factions, called Democrats and Republicans, which are somewhat different but carry out variations on the same policies. By and large, I am opposed to those policies. As is most of the population.” Taking a rhetorical criticism class in addition to rhetorical theory, I have learned both…

    • 514 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    inequality for all
    • 879 Words
    • 3 Pages

    inequality for all

    In the Documentary Inequality for All, scholar Robert Reich dissects the staggering facts on an unequal distribution of wealth between classes and its shattering effects on the American economy. He focuses on the fact that our middle class, which makes up 70% of our economy, is being kept on a tight leash from the wealthy that only make up the miniscule 1% of society, making the same amount of income as half of the country. He begins explaining how In the late 1970s inequality became a prominent issue, not necessarily on a declining economy, in contrast he clarifies that the GDP (gross domestic product) kept on increasing. The problem arises from the unparalleled income of the American workforce compared to the increasing prices of health care, housing, college and everyday costs of living. As expenditures increased for American households so should of workers wages, but instead many dropped or remained the same throughout the economic boom and even until now in our current date. This “huge gap” as Reich describes, between wages and rising economy became a problematic concern to all Americans constituting the middle class.…

    • 879 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Wealth Disparity In America
    • 1215 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Essay On Wealth Disparity In America

    A crucial controversy of America today is the growing gap between the wealthy and the poor, and the discrepancy is caused by capitalism run wild and only the helping hand of the government can only fix the problem. A question that turns the tables is what if the growing wealth disparity in America is actually caused by the government? For years, the idea that inequality is economically neutral has been the prevailing view not just among traditionalists but also between most Americans outside the further reaches of a political audience. There could be ideological or moral reasons to object to a growing gap between the wealthy and the rest but for economic reasons, there are no such. Furthermore, there are many ways inequality places itself in America. In our society, a good amount of the population is forced to stand up and work for our country while hardly being redeemed for their time and effort, thus the problem of income inequality. An estimate of these people live from paycheck to another, barely coping with life itself, not because they cannot manage their money well, but the reason is that…

    • 1215 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Inequality for All
    • 359 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Inequality for All

    The film “Inequality for All” tries to explain; what is the current status of the distribution of wealth and that of income equality? Why this is happening and if this is a problem. Yes, as stated in the film, social inequality is inevitable. But, there is without a doubt a problem with United States distribution of wealth. One of the facts that really opened my eyes was the fact that the 400 richest Americans, together hold more wealth than the poorest 150 million Americans have together. This said, it is scary to think about how obscure was the knowledge we had on the one percent with given how much economic influence they have.…

    • 359 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Rich Are Different from You and Me
    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Rich Are Different from You and Me

    In the article “The Rich Are Different from You and Me,” author Chrystia Freeland explains the rising phenomenon of income inequality that is occurring between the richest top 10% and bottom 90% of the population. Chrystia Freeland states “In every society, some people are richer than others, but across time and geography, the gap between the rich and the rest has widely varied. The reality today is that the rich-especially the very, very rich- are vaulting ahead of everyone else” (51). Between the years of 2002 and 2007, income statistics show that the gap between the richest 10% and the bottom 90% of the population had significantly increased. Statistics also show that by 2007, approximately 35% of the wealth was maintained by the top 10%, leaving about 27% of wealth to the bottom 90% of the population. This is about an 8% gap in between. The last time income inequality was this high was in the 1920’s, but back then only 20% of wealth was gained from work. Today the top 10% gains at least 60% of their wealth from work, rather than inheritance. As economies throughout the world mature, income inequality will continue to rise. The gap between the rich and all others is primarily found in United States. Other countries such as Canada, China, and the United Kingdom are beginning to see income inequality as well. Freeland also states that “These global super- rich work and play together” (52). They share common interests such as business traveling, and vacationing around the world. Due to the common interests shared by others most like themselves, they have become separated from all others within the population, and have formed their own world governed by plutocracy. Author Chrystia Freeland is concerned that because the rich are so caught up in their world of wealth that they will not recognize that other…

    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics