homework

the like of which we have not seen since the 19th century. America's top tier hasgrown infinitely richer and more removed over the past 25 years. It is not unfairto say that they are literally living in a different country. Few among them sendtheir children to public schools; fewer still send their loved ones to fight our

When you live in one of the riches countries in the world but don't haveaccess to adequate housing, child care etc. the issue becomes survival notwealth attainment. Also, when talking about the poor some don't realize howthis is defined according to the census data that reports these numbers.

The 2009 Poverty Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States and the District of Columbia 61

Persons in family Poverty guideline 1 $10,830

2 14,570

3 18,310 4 22,050

5 25,790

6 29,530 7 33,270

8 37,010

Wealth Pyramid

Paul Kivel in his article, Affirmative Action, Immigration, and Welfare: Confronting Racism in 1998 which was taken from his speech given at the University of Kansas he asks us to imagine a pyramid and he explains that this pyramid represents 100% of the population of the United States. 62 In the pyramid he discusses wealth or the accumulation of our assets, which can be referred to as our net worth.

In author Paul Kivel's more recent book, You Call This a Democracy he discusses his economic pyramid as I have described below:

Economic

Top 1 0/0 Of the

Pyramid (the

ruling class):

their net worth is over Next

190/0 of the pyramid

(the managerial

class):

controls another

44% of the country's

wealth

the net worth of each household is over $500,000THESE Two

GROUPS EQUAL 200/0 OF THE

POPU'LATION BUT THEY CONTROL

910/0 OF THE WEALTH OF THE RICHEST

COUNTRY IN THE WORLDLast 80% of the pyramid(made up of the middle class, working class & dependent working controls only 9% of the wealth, which must be divided among them,

an]

their "average" net worth is $38,000 (where many of the dependent

working poor are in the negative)

To make sure you completely understand what this represents, we must define Net Worth = Assets — Liabilities Where, assets are items you own of value like an automobile or home and liabilitiesare items that you owe like the car note or mortgage.

For instance, let's assume that you are like many Americans and have thefollowing living circumstances: Your annual income is $25,000, you rent ratherthan own your home, have credit card debt, have a car but you owe on it. You don't participate in an IRA (Individual Retirement Account), you have no stocks or mutual funds (wealth building assets), no other investments and only a small savings in the bank.

Your assets & liabilities may look like this:

Car worth $10,000 Savings $1000

Total Assets $11,000

Car loan $13,000 Credit Card Debt $15,000

Total Liabilities $28,000

Your net worth would be calculated as 11,000 - 28,000 = (17,000) which mean that you are in the red, because you have a negative net worth. Now where does this person fall in the pyramid? If you answered in the bottom of the 80th percentile, you answered correctly. Now you may ask, what does this have to do with embracing diversity?

Do you think that this 80% of the population fighting for 9% of the wealth would consist of women and men; African Americans, Caucasians, Latino, and other races/ethnicities; the disabled and the able-bodied; young and old and individuals with various lifestyles?

So then, it would seemingly make sense that these people would have a common ground: fighting together for policies and laws that would make access to wealth creation a reality which starts with equal workplace access and opportunity. Instead, what is often going on amongst these groups?

If you answered fighting amongst each other you guessed right—like Blacks blaming all whites for slavery and racism, white men blaming people of color and women for their lack of job opportunities or benefitting from Affirmative Action, Christians against Muslims, the young not hiring the old, etc. Now, how does this help anyone in this economic group to move ahead? If you answered, it does not, you guessed right again. But, the fighting that goes on because of differences, prejudices, and stereotypes helps who in the pyramid?

If you answered, the top 20%, you guessed right. Why, because energy amongst the largest group (80th percentile) could be utilized to dismantle policies and programs and systematic isms that exist to benefit only the rich. Instead this energy is lost on issues that have nothing to do with gaining wealth and making sure capitalism works for everyone. It keeps those that think they are free, from experiencing the "real" opportunities that are available in one of the greatest countries on earth,

This all occurs while the rich get richer and the rest of the economy

experiences large scale cutbacks in social services, tremendous corporate

downsizing, exportation of jobs overseas, environmental dumping of toxic

wastes (primarily in communities of the Poor representing many people of color),

hate crimes (including church burnings, physical assaults, and cross burnings), and public policy attacks on communities of low socioeconomic status. What results

is atremendous concentration of wealth and segregation in society along lines of classmore so than any other category. 64

Keeping these elements alive can keep the 80% fighting each other whenthey really should be embracing diversity. The fact is that many of "us" are in

thesame boat regardless of sex/gender, age, race and religion, etc. When you look atwho is in the top 20th percentile, you find they are mostly protestant white males.However, there are many more white males in the 80 percentile of the wealthdistribution than in this 20th percentile. This further illustrates that the segregationthat exist in society is not just about one race versus another. The fact is that thosein the 80 percentile do not have economic prosperity. They often have lives thatare focused on problems rather than at finding worthwhile solutions. Many inthis group have lack of opportunities but will find it easier to blame this onanother ethnicity, race or gender rather than take a close look at the economicpolicies that make the rich richer and the poor poorer.

We must understand that those in the 20th percentile did not just get "rich" but that many of the economically wealthy have been the beneficiaries of advantage, while others were disadvantaged. The 80th percentile, the tossed salad of America, has more in common than they realize wouldn't you think? Now that we know the economic plight of numerous laborers in this country, we cannot leave this discussion until it is fully understood how such an unbalanced concentration of

wealth occurs in a "free" society. We must understand the operation of the three

economic systems.

Three Economic Systems

The economic resources (LAND, LABOR & CAPITAL) of a country can be categorized

into one of the following categories or a mixture thereof:

Communism

• An economic system where all the

economic resources are controlled by the

government.65

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There is little to no opportunity for entrepreneurship since the government owns all industry. Lack of freedom and individual control. If resources were equally divided, citizens could live well cared for. However, since many governments in these countries have dictatorships, there is no check and balance and often greed becomes a very serious issue, which means all citizens are not cared for.

Can you name some countries that (now or previously) operated under communism? Are any of these countries places where you would want to live, such as China, Cuba, Poland (under communist regime until in 1985 when Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of the Soviet Union and relaxed Communist strictures), Vietnam, Laos, North Korea, etc...? Do many of the citizens from these countries migrate to the U.S.? Why do you think? If you guessed for freedom, you guessed right.

Socialism

An economic system where most of the major economic resources are controlled by the government. 66

There are some opportunities for entrepreneurship. Individual freedom as well as government control is prevalent, how much may depend on the form of government. Political systems that operate under democracy in these countries often indicate a fairer distribution of economic resources amongst citizens.

Name some countries that operate (now or previously) under socialism? Are any of these countries places you would want to live, such as Canada, Switzerland, Sweden etc...? Do many of the citizens from these countries migrate to the U.S.? Why not? Well let's look at Switzerland for example.

Switzerland is among the world's most prosperous countries in terms of private income as in 2003, the median household income in Switzerland was an estimated 96,000 CHF or US$ 54,000, 26% higher than the 2003 U.S. median of $43,000, slightly less than that of the wealthiest U.S. state, New Hampshire.67 In addition to a high standard of living, all Swiss citizens have health insurance that they pay for themselves with no help from their employer. An American in this situation might face tens of thousands of dollars in expenses. But under the Swiss health-care system, individuals pay about a third less on health care than the average American, in part because of government-enforced price controls.68

In addition, almost all Swiss are literate (it is estimated that 99% of thepopulation age 15 and over can read and write).69 Switzerland's 13 institutes of

higher learning enrolled 99,600 students in the academic year of 2001-02 alone and about 25% of the adult population holds a diploma of higher learning.70 The Swiss constitution

guarantees freedom of worship and the different religious communities

co-exist peacefully and Switzerland consistently ranks high on quality of life indices, including per capita income, concentration of computer and internet usage per capita, insurance coverage per individual and health care rates.71 After the Second world war, Switzerland had absolutely no experience with unemployment until about 1990. But even now their unemployment rate is very low and they have one of the most stable economies.

So again I ask you why aren't the Swiss migrating to the U.S.? The answershould be simple why would they.

Capitalism

• An economic system where very few of the resources are controlled by thegovernment.72 • Entrepreneurship is the backbone of the economy. • Individual freedom is prevalent, where you have the freedom (within the

laws) to do what you want, live where you want, and fail or succeed based upon your opportunities. Name a country that operates purely under capitalism? The United States is the answer. Now why do you think many people migrate here? Freedom of course. But how free are you if the majority people don't know how to or have the ability to build wealth?

So, let's go back to the original question: How does an unbalanced concentration of

wealth occur in a "free" society like the capitalistic United States? Rather than give

you my opinion, I ask you to think about the following questions.

Critical Thinking Questions

1. How in a free society like the U.S., can a small group of people continually

control so much of the wealth?

2. Do you think if the people with the

wealth, controlled the media, public school

systems, and other systems where people

gained many of their values and

knowledge, the focus could be placed on issues

that have nothing to do with

gaining wealth?

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3. Would it be possible to make certain "minority" groups the focus of

society's problems?

4. Could the top pyramiders create (by using the media, etc.) hate

amongst the bottom 80% in the pyramid, to keep the attention off

them?

Can those in the 80 th percentile be so burdened with day to day life

that issues like wealth and net income become second place to

finding healthy food, transportation to work or school, proper

education for their children, a safe place to live (issues that would

not be of concern if you had wealth)?