Reference no: EM133291220
Video - "Income Inequality in America"
Posted in 2012, this video graphically portraying wealth inequality in America went viral and was viewed over 17 million times. Using simple line graphs, it contrasts what Americans believe income inequality looks like and what they ideally would like it to be with the actual distribution of wealth in the United States. Despite a misunderstanding of wealth distribution under socialism, the video does a nice job of graphically representing a complex concept. As Americans generally accept unequal outcomes, their ideal distribution of wealth would give the wealthiest individuals about 10-20 times more than the poorest individuals and the poor would have sufficient resources to remain largely above the poverty line. The reality, however, is quite different.
Question 1. Why do you think the perceived distribution of wealth in America is so different from the actual distribution of wealth?
Question 2. Why do you think the ideal distribution of wealth looks like it does? What does it say about how Americans value equality of outcome relative to equality of opportunity?
Question 3. How might the actual levels of wealth inequality depicted in the video influence efforts to achieve equality of opportunity?
Question 4. What trade-offs might be necessary if Americans sought to bring actual levels of wealth inequality in line with desired levels? Specifically, what would be the ramifications for liberty?
Question 5. Speculate on the amount of political power held by the wealthiest one percent if power can be understood in terms of holding resources.