Feb
24
Blog Post #4 – Income Gap – Tiffany Fan
February 24, 2015 | Leave a Comment
Manhattan, NY is known to hold the wealthiest in the nation, but it also holds some in the lower class as well in certain areas. Nicole Gelinas’ “What the Rich Give to New York” provides a positive outlook on the income inequality issue focusing on New York City. For the rich to be locating themselves in the city and providing their wealth to transit systems, museums, etc. is certainly a benefit. But, everyone pays taxes and part of the taxes are contributed into the building of these structures, except that the wealthy contribute more of their wealth. What percentage of the wealthy actually contribute to public structures and what percentage attempts to gain more wealth?
It surprised me that the better place to live when one’s poor and willing to rise is in New York City as opposed to fairer economies. So what’s that proportion of rich to the poor is needed in order to sustain living in New York City that fairer economies fail to provide? Also, Gelinas provides a view where she throws the consciousness from the wealthy, I think it would be more beneficial to have more people earning in the hundred thousand, rather than a few in the millions and billions. Thus, more people in the lower income bracket can be taxed when earning more and forming a larger middle class.
When looking at the graph “The wealthy control a bigger share of the income” in Tami Luhby’s article titled “Just how wide is New York City’s income gap,” the approximately 13 percent increase in the rich’s control of income and the 2 percent decrease in the middle class’ income shows the disappearing middle class in New York City. With the slow elimination of the middle class and a growing rate of poverty, it can cause segregation among race and financial position and erase the well-known diverse city. Ethnicity is also pointed out in this article and with a growing income gap, it can also cause for a segregation in terms of race, where one might look down upon another race.
As for The New Yorker’s “Idea of the Week: Inequality and New York’s Subway,” I am a bit skeptical about the data. The U.S. Census Bureau reports income by zip code, so how were they able to compile the data and break it into median income by subway stations? Also, how far are the incomes being measured from the subway stations? For example, being that I ride the 7 line everyday, it was astonishing to see that the Mets-Wilets Point station recorded a median income of approximately $100,000, when just located outside are swamps of car repair-shops and of course, the stadium, with minimal houses and apartment buildings. The article states, “if the borough of Manhattan were a country, the income gap between the richest twenty percent and the poorest twenty percent would be on par with countries like Sierra Leone, Namibia, and Lesotho.” The bigger issue is the changes of the income gap from year to year, which is not shown from the line graphs. Also, to evaluate the inequality near based on subway station, in my opinion, wouldn’t be ideal. For convenience sake, some people purchase homes near subway stations, thus driving prices up. Thus, to actually take how far from the subway station the median income was measured would be necessary.
Poverty is another aspect that should be evaluated when attempting to solve the issue of income inequality. The lower 20 percent of the population has an income that is practically stagnated. Having an income of $14,000 is similar to working a full-time job at minimum wage. At this level, it is difficult to even rent a place to live and buy necessities when the prices of products in New York City are constantly increasing such as the subway prices and most groceries. In addition to taxing the rich at a higher rate, which would force them to provide for public places, such as the library and early and extended education, education and poverty should be taken into consideration.
