The unequal distribution of wealth in America has been a controversial issue for decades now and is one of the most significant problems that our generation must face. Over the years, it has been observed that the wealth of those at the bottom have experienced little to no growth while the wealth of those at the top has risen dramatically. Have the wealthy CEOs and rich individuals simply been working that many times harder or is there something else at play here? The Occupy Wall Street Movement, which happened a few years back in 2011, sought to not only take action against income and wealth inequality but also against the corruption and enormous influence that large corporations have on our government. Ultimately, our government is unable to pass comprehensive laws regarding these issues due to the might of Wall Street and the billionaire class.

This has led to several weaknesses in different aspects of our government that the wealthy can take advantage of. The Panama Papers, which were released one year ago, exposed the methods by which the very wealthy elite could conveniently store away billions of dollars that would go uncollected by our flawed tax system. This corruption has gone on for far too long but a strong, effective solution to these problems has not yet been adopted. One such proposal by the French economist Thomas Piketty suggests a global tax on all forums of wealth and assets (trusts, partnerships, and stocks) but this idea has drawn controversy because it would lead to having more rich individuals who would spend money a lot more money on themselves rather than investing and helping others. Another proposal, this time by Professor Jacob Hacker of Yale University, suggests raising the top tax rate on the very rich to 45% if their income is between one and ten million or 49% if their annual income is over one billion. This idea would probably cause many large companies to minimize their enormously high pay packages for those at the top of the company. In my opinion, while these might not exactly be the best solutions to the wealth inequality problem in America, it might be a step in the right direction. It’s better to take action than to sit around and do nothing while people keep suffering.