Chapter 10 in the CQ reader discusses wealth and inequality. Income inequality is an issue that I believe will be debated about until humans go extinct. And I only said debated. Will it be addressed and combatted? It has been, but the gap in income between the affluent and the poor is widening. So will income inequality be combatted effectively? I’m not sure.

I agree that there does need to be income inequality for the economy to thrive, but not an enormous gap we have now and will continue to have. Yes, economic growth is thriving, but the people that aren’t the wealthiest 1% are struggling. The price of everything is increasing and income isn’t increasing at the rate it should for the people that need it to. The rich’s consumption increases and the middle- and working-class’s consumption decreases. And it will continue to decrease if middle-class stores and restaurants decrease as well.

Education inequality is a factor that adds to income inequality. The rich are provided with the necessary tools to succeed and have the money to do so. The middle and working classes aren’t provided with the same opportunities as the rich. Mayor de Blasio passed the Fair Student Funding and it is helping certain schools, but other schools aren’t eligible or don’t receive adequate funding from the program. Personal responsibilities and choices do increase chances for social mobility. But the same opportunities must be provided for those born in the bottom 5% that are provided for others. Otherwise upward social mobility rates will not increase.

Increasing tax on the rich is too much to ask for. Because if I made $1 billion and I’m taxed 49% of that, I wouldn’t know how to live on only $500 million. And I definitely would have lost my desire to make more money.

We have a champagne class distribution of wealth, and the middle class is diminishing. Soon we’ll have only two distinct sections: the rich and the poor.