The Shifting Middle Class Essay Sample

“The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer,” is a famous mantra that is used to describe the widening wealth gap that is going on in America and across the world. However, there is one group missing from this phrase: the middle class. Yes, the middle class; the group that is usually the largest, but least talked among the three dynamics. In the United States, the middle class is beginning to shift, and this is a situation that deserves much more attention.
There are those who will say that the gap between the rich and the poor is becoming more narrow, while hopeful, that is far from the case. In many situations examples are present in which that gap is becoming more and more insurmountable. A 2015 piece from Sarah Shemkus of Salary.com looks at multiple reasons as to why the gap between the two groups continues to grow larger. Technology and tax rates are just two of the reasons why people seem to not be able to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.
Globalization and international trade can be two other factors that are playing a part in this problem. One serious issue that has become a talking point during political races is the fact that more companies have outsourced jobs that were long held by Americans. The growing ability to trade and develop products within these countries has allowed for American companies to take advantage of the benefits for having employees and operations in those lands. This situation directly hurts the American worker as they are forced to see their job disappear and given to a person across a sea.
Even during the financial recovery that the country is currently enjoying; the gap between these groups is continuing to hurt the middle class. Ben Leubsdorf of the Wall Street looks at why this situation is continuing to plague the public. According to his piece “Average, or mean, pretax income for the wealthiest 10 percent of U.S. families rose 10 percent in 2013 from 2010, but families in the bottom 40 percent saw their average inflation-adjusted income decline over that period,” (Leubsdorf, 2014).
That speaks volumes to the point that this situation is not currently changing in the country. Even as much of the country continues to work through the hard points that have hit majority of the economy, the rich are still growing their wealth but more and more of the poor are falling further behind. There are a number of solutions that have been presented, but due to political blockers it does not seem as if any of them will ever be put into place.
The report within the Wall Street Journal goes even deeper into the conversation as it looks at the reasons why this gap is growing. Much of the pieces research came from the Federal Reserve, and the representative pointed out that they do not have the ability to solve these problems. That shows just how deep this problem is rooted.
Globalization and international trade have both given some great benefits to multiple parts of the world. But those benefits have also come with a cost. The United States citizen has struggled to close the gap between the rich and the poor. There are some steps that need to be put in place in order to solve this problem. However, working more with countries outside of our own borders is not the answer. Until politicians are able to work together, the American public will continue to suffer.

Works Cited

Leubsdorf, Ben. “Fed: Gap Between Rich, Poor Americans Widened During Recovery.” Wall
Street Journal. September 4, 2014. Web. Date Accessed: March 5, 2015. http://www.wsj.com/articles/fed-gap-between-rich-poor-americans-widened-during-recovery-1409853628
Shemkus, Sarah. “Why The Gap Between Rich & Poor Is Widening.” Salary. 2015. Web. Date
Accessed: March 5, 2015. http://www.salary.com/why-the-gap-between-rich-poor-is-widening/slide/6/