Apr
20
Jessica: Class 22
April 20, 2015 | Leave a Comment
While inequality is omnipresent throughout today’s society, it is refreshing to know that people are trying to battle it through their own ways. Whether it be through storytelling to get the message across in a human interest method or by battling it head on by starting your own business, it is nice to see that people are not just succumbing to the effects of inequality. I thought it was interesting to know that there are currently books being published addressing the effects of income inequality through various people’s perspectives using stories instead of numbers and showing the difference between generations. Additionally, it was encouraging knowing that along with the advancement of technology, the jobs market may also grow, instead of diminish, as I used to believe, if machines would be integrated into the workplace.
Within the New York Times piece, the article mentions that inequality can be overcome by using technology to help us and not hurt us. The article focuses much on how in the future all of this will be possible, but I wonder how soon in the future all this will occur. Although income inequality is inevitable within our society and the article argues technology can reduce the effects, how much of an affect could it possibly have? I understand and hope that technology is a strong enough factor to shrink the income inequality gap. Additionally, can technology be a long term or a short term solution to fixing the income inequality gap? By the end of the article, the author ends on a disclaimer stating that results are conditional based on the global economy and the technology that will become available to us as time progresses. Even though I may agree with the article and have high hopes for a solution to income inequality to be as simple as advancing technology, I currently do not think it is a solution anytime soon.
In my opinion, the New Yorker article had a comprehensive perspective on how income inequality can be viewed and the various texts currently published that examine the problems income inequality has on our society. I have not heard or read most of the books listed, but the article covered many different texts that clearly show the issues with the current generation and how we differ from the generations before us. I appreciate how some of the authors of the books mentioned discuss the issue of income inequality without using numbers and with stories, so as readers we can connect more personally to how income inequality may affect others while it may not directly make an impression on the specific reader.
In the last article in NYC Future article I can see why many foreign born Americans are attempting to start their own business and take the path of entrepreneurship. In my opinion, one of the reasons why I think many native-born Americans have a lower rate of entrepreneurship is because we may not have to work as hard to climb the corporate ladder. As a native- born American I am less likely to start my own business and would rather just go in the interview process like the rest of the hopefuls in the applicant pool. I respect those who come to America and start their own business as I believer that is an extremely hard thing to achieve. I, on the other hand, will take the easy way out and struggle through the interview process to get my position. Additionally, maybe the reason why many foreign born Americans decide to start their own businesses instead of interview is because they wish to avoid that process.
Overall, from reading these articles I have hope that income inequality may be solved through awareness and other outlets that may not necessarily be political or economical, but through people’s own advancements. While it is clear that income inequality is not going to be solved tomorrow, the optimism that the possibility of income inequality slowly closing is something to look forward to.
