Throughout the Article, Robert Reich talks about the growing gap between the upper half of society and the lower half of society. The main narrator of this article is the author, Robert Reich who is telling a story about America’s social classes. Reich uses a metaphor to explain how the economy is going down and up for the rich and the poor. He says that it’s a boat we’re all in, “one sinking rapidly one sinking more slowly and the third rising steadily” (1).
Reich is referring to the three social classes, the lower class, the middle class, and the upper class. The lower class keeps getting poorer because of job loss, due to more automation and competition from other countries that are willing to work for less money. The middle class is kind of staying where they are but are still going down economically.
This is because of machinery, which is replacing workers, lower salaries because of the increased social security the government is taking out for the retired, and competition from immigrants who are looking for a job. The upper class is doing well and rising above everyone else because they are the ones who are thinking about selling their ideas to foreign countries who couldn’t think of them on their own. The upper class consists of engineers and architects who are in charge of designing and building the major structures for transportation and living. It is because of this that they are earning greater salaries and are getting richer than the middle and lower classes. Reich talks about how these things are designed to keep the lower class salaries from dipping too low. But this is put into place only so they can continue buying the goods.
The Term Paper on Class Inequality
Social class is one of the oldest and most persistent inequalities in British society. In the past, people were very aware of their social class and their expected roles and responsibilities. People would have worn different clothes, behaved in different ways and had a very different culture from each other and they would have accepted this as a perfectly normal element of behaviour. We are still ...
This article is entirely true. There is a growing gap between the rich and the poor and it’s blooming more visible as the years pass. The rich are getting richer because they are the ones taking over the lower class jobs and doing what they want with them. Usually they fire all the workers and put in automatic machinery because it’s more effective and costs less. They have also put an increase on immigrants over the past decade and it’s still rising today. They come to America and they need jobs so they can support themselves and their families. This is why there is a loss of jobs in the United States. If the economy keeps up with this downhill slide there will be people in extreme poverty and people who are filthy rich. And many of the rich people will refuse to help the poor, even if they are more than capable of doing so.
Works Cited
1. Reich, Robert B. The Work of Nations: Preparing Ourselves for 21st-century Capitalism:Why the Rich Are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer New York: A.A. Knopf, 1991. N. pag. Print.
