Why Gap Between the Classes in America is Getting Closer

The United States is turning into a country of rich and poor with the majority of Americans falling in the center. American history and governmental issues, especially jails and schools, have a vital impact in the extending or closing the gap amongst rich and poor. Numerous unfortunate Americans live in conditions looking like those of a third world country, with ghastly living arrangements, and few “mom and pop” business openings. Half of black Americans are poor, yet most impoverished individuals are not black. In congress, white politicians accommodate to the interest to the prejudice of meager white voters to get encourage for new laws that trouble low-salary individuals overall. There is more government funding in jail than there is in schools and furthering education. This starts to create a trend where the rich are enjoying their private school educations that they can afford, while the poor enjoy their time sitting in jail.

The lower class or “those that live below the poverty line” are exemplified by poverty, panhandling, and unemployment. Americans of this class have lesser degrees of education around the high school and lower level. They experience the ill effects of not having good healthcare and a safe, clean, spacious living environment. They also suffer from lower than average quality apparel and school education. The media regularly belittle the lower class by portraying them as penniless individuals as welfare families who keep having kids with a lack of a stable job. They also label them as menaces to society, felons, and drug addicts.

The laborers or “blue collar” workers frequently suffer from a lack of a decent education and often take part in heavy labor intensive jobs which take a toll on their bodies. The workers in the laborer class are often dishwashers, clerks, housekeepers, and servers who often lack the opportunities to be promoted due to their education levels. There are more profitable jobs in the laborer class such as woodworkers, handymen, and electricians are frequently called specialists. These workers may be able to earn more than some middle-class jobs but at a higher cost. Their services are often very hazardous, undesirable, and very physically demanding.

The middle class or “white collar” workers take up the majority of jobs in Americans. Most people in the United States fall in these categories but there are varying degrees of the middle class. These workers often work in an office and have more cash readily available then the lower class but not as much as the upper class. The less educated middle class is frequently comprised chiefs, entrepreneurs, instructors, and secretaries. On the other side of the spectrum of middle class workers is comprised of very educated individuals. Most of these workers have completed college education and have higher than average salaries. They are often engineers, legal advisors, stockbrokers, and CEOs.

The middle class is generally separated into two sections, the lower middle and upper middle class. The lower middle class incorporates those with “new cash” or recently earned cash from new business and jobs. These are the workers that come from first generation college students and immigrant families. They may have come from poverty or labor class families. The upper middle class incorporates those that are born into distinguished and high‐society families with “old cash” who have been rich for ages. They often live off the wealth that they have inherited or given from their families. Wherever their cash originates from they often have more cash they can care to spend, which more often than not, means that they have more time to engage in recreation time with their kids and families. They often stay in gated communities, spend their time at country clubs and other social gatherings and send their children to some of the best private schools in the nation.

The upper class or “top one percent” are Americans who often have the highest levels of education Master degrees and PHD’s at the best schools in the nations. They work at the top jobs in the nation and are often at the forefront of ingenious business ventures and ideas, it also includes sports players and entertainment performers who perform for the whole nation to see. They often can afford to go to sleep in peace realizing that they have more than enough cash to address any of life’s difficulties, as well as purchase any number of luxury items to make life even easier and more fun. They are nurtured with guardians who read books to them, coaches to help with sports and homework plus numerous resources to access. They travel in planes, private jets, and the latest cars. They are often have the ability to change the world with their wealth and are often developing the latest gadgets or new business.

The gaps between the classes seem to be getting closer and closer every year. Often Americans are finding themselves either below the poverty line or in the upper middle class. The problem is that individuals are frequently not thinking about the long term when it comes to money especially when they have children. They are not saving their money, putting it into investments, or putting it into retirement funds and their children’s education. Most of the time they are finding themselves in heavy debt from student loans because they much rather spend their money on materialistic items. They are not pondering the future; they are centered around surviving the present. In these cases, Americans are finding themselves one accident or mishap away from falling below the poverty line. They seemed to have developed the mentality that life’s too short to worry about future events because death can approach at any moment. When they do die they often leave no money for their kids and even leave debts for them to pay.

The middle or “white collar” class is contracting. This gathering used to make up close to 90% of the American populace, however now remains around 50% of the American populace. Even though those living in the lower middle class do not live in neediness, they are often in debt from paying for a good college education, new cars, or houses. They frequently find themselves one disaster from being plunged underneath the poverty line. Those that find themselves in the upper middle class are more often than not, finding themselves one pay raise away from being in the top 1%. They are investing their money in stocks, bonds, and other future investments. They make sure their kids are getting top-class education and often start saving money for their children’s college. With no outstanding debt, they find themselves worry free and are not hesitating to put their money towards new business ventures. The number of individuals that are found between the lower and upper middle class is becoming shorter and shorter due to most Americans either being full of debt living month to month with no savings for emergencies or debt-free putting money toward the future with investments and retirement funds maxed out.