Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Who is Really in Charge?


Written By: Kyle Petoskey

America is controlled and ruled by the people who have the most money. Which in this case are the billionaires of the country, with all the big financial companies, but why is it ruled by only 2% of the people. Yes we have a democracy and we vote for who we want in the white house running the country but we really don’t have much of a choice there is usually only two representatives and they are usually rich
            According to nationmaster.com The United States gross income is rank 1 overall. With five trillion ahead of the next country which is japan as you can see below in the bar graph, but since 1973 to the start of 2013 is 40 years, and within that 40 year period 80% of our countries wealth or Gross Income came from the top 2% of the people, 65% from the top 1%. That is too much money going to the top 2% of the people. Then after federal taxes the top 1 percent have more than eight times as much money as those that live in the 60 percentile which is the middle to lower class. Why should we let them run the country? There is more than 75% of people that live in the United States with less money and have probably work hard than most of those people anyway that are in the top 2%.
            In 2008 the United States had a crash in the economy. It effected the whole country as a whole and those with money it did nothing to them just to the middle and lower classes. So this leaves the gate wide open for the top 2% and they help the government decide public policy because they have money to help us get back.
            Those that have millions and millions of dollars cannot  be brought in for any charges if they are a part of the financial institution that help the United States so they can get away with it because they have money. This isn’t right they are a part of the people and no one person is above the law it states that in the constitution. But why are they exempt when the rest of the people aren’t. This is all because if the top 2% are helping keep the economy stable, we need them otherwise we could go into another recession and the government doesn’t want that.
            The two percent of the people that have 80 percent of the country’s wealth they own big companies, like Microsoft, Wal-Mart and big financial firms. Those two percent control most of the markets where most people spend their money. This will always be true the people that have the most money to spend will be the ones in charge, but the other 98% should have a say in the economy as well as the rich do. 

 See Nations listed by Gross National Income Here: 
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_gro_nat_inc-economy-gross-national-income

 

  

4 comments:

  1. You make a good point in that the other 98% of the population should have a say in the economy, but where would our economy be right now without the other 2%? I’m sure that 65% of the country has worked very hard to earn a living and support their families, but the people in the top 2% of our economy have helped provide jobs and made our lives easier with technology and what not. So if anything, we should be thanking the top 2% for keeping our economy stable, and preventing another recession.

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  2. That is what this world is coming to, many people in today's economy have no control what so ever. Yes we can vote for our president but that really isn't much of an economic thing, it may be choosing who will have most of the control over it but presidents don't do much when it comes to the economy besides make bills that but us further into debt and government official usually do most of the work. When us citizens try and make our own we can't really do so because the government has a lot of control over a "free" economy.

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  3. I agree for the most part that the upper class (2%) should not control our entire economy because obviously it's not fair to the other 98% of the people, especially because like you said we live in a democracy. So maybe a more even distribution of the money supply would balance it, but we can't just hand out money to 98% of our population because that would cause the 2% to lose a lot of control, and make everyone most likely lower middle class or low class in general. I also believe however that is somewhat important that these 2% do control so much of the economy because, it's not like they don't know what they're doing because they know the power that they have and they obviously have a big impact on the economy if they control so much of it. So maybe taxing the rich more and taxing the middle/lower class less could balance out some of the "power" that the 2% has over the other 98%.

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  4. The distribution of wealth in the United States is completely off balanced. Like you said in your posting, 2% of the population was holding 80% of our nations wealth. It makes you question what these 2% of people have that is so much better then everyone else living in middle and lower class families. This concept goes back to an individuals human capital, and the skills they possess that make them more in demand in the job market. There are things that these 2% of the people have done that set them apart from the rest of the population- however the distribution of wealth becoming more uneven. The bottom 98% of the population includes the middle class, and the low class- some of whom are stuggling to even keep up with their expenses. There is a point where the spending the wealthier people do can become frustrating when looking at how others are having to live. Although most people recognize this, not much has been done to correct it.

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