Directions: Today, we
will continue watching Inequality for All.
While you watch, please take notes.
In this blog space, jot down your continuing questions and impressions
in three (3) paragraphs using direct evidence from the documentary. Please use the list of questions from Robert
Reich's website to help us begin our discussion.
Study Questions
- Describe a moment from this viewing section of Inequality for All that is really sticking with you – maybe you found it particularly inspiring or particularly troubling. What was it about that moment that is so memorable?
- Reich says, “The question is not inequality per se; the question is, when does inequality become a problem?” In your own words, when do you think inequality becomes a problem? Do you see a problem now? Explain how you see it around your community.
- Reich asks, “Why didn’t the nation respond to the Great Regression that started around 1980? Why didn’t we take bold steps to ensure that the economy would continue to work for just about everyone?” What bold steps do you think we need now? What could you do?
Visit the website
Rene Roustand
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1: Describe a moment from this viewing section of Inequality for All that is really sticking with you – maybe you found it particularly inspiring or particularly troubling. What was it about that moment that is so memorable?
Answer: A moment from the documentary "Inequality for All" that troubles me is when Reich said, "The middle class keeps the economy going". It troubles me because I feel that my family and other families are doing the hard work, while the upper class and the wealthy just sit on their mountain of cash. There is so much the middle class can do before we're overworked and we don't get our share of money like the upper class do. I feel like walking to the government, holding a picket sign that says, "WE WANT MORE MONEY".
Question 2: Reich says, “The question is not inequality per se; the question is, when does inequality become a problem?” In your own words, when do you think inequality becomes a problem? Do you see a problem now? Explain how you see it around your community.
Answer: Inequality becomes a problem when the government tries to spread the money equally. I can sometimes see people homeless, and holding signs saying "PLEASE HELP US, WE WILL WORK".
Question 3: Reich asks, “Why didn’t the nation respond to the Great Regression that started around 1980? Why didn’t we take bold steps to ensure that the economy would continue to work for just about everyone?” What bold steps do you think we need now? What could you do?
Answer: Americans were far than leased about the econony in the 1980's. We did not take bold steps because of we didn't care about how the inequality was spread. We need to open up new buisnesses that everyone can join and share the money equally across the lower class. I could get a job at Market Basket, earn money and share half of it to people in despearte need of donate some of my money to charity.
Lucas Kaufman
ReplyDelete1. Something from this section of “Inequality for All” that is sticking with me is that people in the US have a harder time climbing that income ladder and getting greater salaries than less wealthy countries like Denmark, or ones that still have aristocracies like the UK. They also showed the middle-class couple in the video, where both were working and still not making enough money to live on their own, while someone in the top 1% can make more than enough money with just one person. There are some changes that really need to happen if the US’s economy is going to survive, and especially with our current administration I worry that they may not happen in time.
2. I think inequality becomes a problem when people start losing opportunities and having their dreams become unachievable just because of one factor that they cannot control (gender, race, sexuality, etc.). Prejudices that do this have been in this country from the very beginning, and while we certainly have made progress since then when it comes to gender or race, the prejudices against the poor have worsened, and are sometimes thought of as lazy in the upper class when they really just don’t have the opportunities to move up the income ladder. I remember one man in “Inequality for All” stating that the United States has become a plutocracy, which is a form of government where all the power is consolidated to the wealthy, and I certainly think we could be on the way to such a thing.
3. I think part of the reason why we didn’t respond to the Great Regression of 1980 is that people were, and still are, scared of what such steps could do to the “perfectly fine” systems already in place. Going back to Plato’s Allegory of a Cave, I could compare this to a landslide or collapse going on inside that would force people to leave, and reform the economy with those newfound truths, but wanting to stay inside because they are comforted by the illusion of things being as they always have been. I think a lot of the things done by the Clinton Administration made good progress toward economic equality, and if a future president were to do these things to a greater degree we might see a little bit of progress. Given that our current administrator is a member of that top 1% and has championed tax cuts to the wealthy, though, all I can do for the near future is hope.
Peyton Levental
ReplyDelete1. Some thing that really interested me and that stuck out to me was that to run a family of four or five you needed to have both the male and the female working in the workforce to just barely get by. As we see in the documentary of the couple with two kids I believe, needed to be both working and create this spread sheet of how much they spend and how much they need to save to literally just survive and to be able to put food on the table.
2. I do think that equality such a huge struggle in out society. One big inequality would be equal pay. In 2010 the average worker pay was 33,000, and the average av CEO was making was 10-30 million. As you can see, this gap is extremely larger than it was. I think inequality is already a problem and it definitely getting worse. More ways we can see inequality in our own community would be equal pay towards men and woman. This has been an uprising issue for many years now and everywhere you go there are always segregation's for this. Woman's close coast more and the minimum wadge is also less on average.
3. I feel like some bold steps we need to do know to do now is find out a way to equal out the pay. We need to bring it back to how it was before when you could survive on just one job. You shouldn't need 2 plus jobs to function your live. What I could do to help is make this situation aware to other people. Maybe have a meeting and talk about whats happening in our economy and see what we could do to help.
Lucy Elerath
DeleteI agree with your points on equal pay because there is also the factor of divorced parents or single parents and based on the statistics that people are barley getting by with both parents working those people are even more worse off. Spreading awareness is the first step to changing things!
Ben Worthley
ReplyDelete1. Something that suck with me is that the U.S the worst inequality in the world. You would think that the U.S. one of the richest countries in the world would distribute its money more equally than some of the other countries in the world. The U.S is 23rd in the world in for equality. That surprised me. I knew that we weren't perfect but I did not know it was this bad. The top 1% is fine but all the other 99% are doing worse as the years go on. Some people have to get 2 to 3 jobs juts to make ends meet.
2. I think inequality becomes a problem is when you have to pay more than you make a year. If you make 30,000 dollars a year. You have to pay taxes and all that other stuff you only get like 10,000 dollars a year. For some people that's fine but for most people you have to get 2 jobs just to make 30,000 a year. Most people in 2015 where making 25,000 a year. A one room apartment in boston is $1,854 a month. That is $22,248 a year for a one bedroom apartment. That's more than half your paycheck. If you were living by yourself you would have to get another job. That's 2 jobs just to make ends meet. I think this is when inequality gets bad.
3. I think that we need to limit the amount of money ceo’s can bring in before cutting employees paycheck or downsizing. Like the women in the movie said “why do they need my 12.95.” if the company or ceo brings more than 1 million dollars a year he should not be able to cut back on funds. The 1% should not be able to have tax breaks. It might not do anything,or it could do a lot. If the 1% make 1 million dollars a year 33% of that goes back into the economy.
Julia Campbell
DeleteI think that the points you made in paragraph 3 would make a differnce if they could be established into our society today. To add to one of your points, I think it might help if we could put a metaphorical cap on the amount of money a founder/ CEO of the company could bring home without giving some to his/her hard working employees.
Drew Wachtel
ReplyDelete1)The part from the documentary that is really sticking with me was when the millionaires were spending a lot of money on politicians that they were supporting in the elections. I feel like the wealthy people should spend their money on charities and not on politics. Politicians can fund their own campaigns because they are pretty wealthy themselves. If these rich people spend their money on cancer research or any other fatal diseases.
2) I think Inequality becomes a problem when the middle class can’t support themselves. If the middle class doesn’t get paid a lot the middle class will stop buying products from the store. If the middle class can’t buy anything it affects the CEO’s of the companies that sell the products. Over time the company’s that suffer from the middle class because they can’t buy anything will go out of business.
3) I think that we could make the minimum wage higher than it is now. If we make the minimum higher it will strengthen the middle class and now they could start buying more things and it helps the Businesses from going out of business. It will also help the CEO’S of the companies that are affected by the middle class not buying anything.
Evan Brenner
DeleteI agree with the point that we could make the minimum wage higher. I think it would help support the middle class more and make it more fair.
Abhi Sharma
ReplyDeleteIn documentary what sticked with me was that four hundred people have more wealth than half of the population of America. This matter because this just proves that America has become more unfair with giving money to the workers.
Inequality becomes a problem when the people don't get paid that much which causes them not buying anything. If they chose not to buy anything it hurts the store by not buying what they make or sell.
I think that the nation did not respond to the great regression because the nation probably did not pay attention what the outcome would be or they didn't care.
Evan Brenner
ReplyDeleteOne moment from the film Inequality for All that is really sticking with me was the cycle they showed us. It showed we weren’t doing anything and showed the effects of all the money distribution. This specific cycle shows us that these effects impact us very much. This cycle makes me think about how strong our economy really needs to be and how important it is. This is an issue I have never really heard or ever learned about.
Inequality becomes a problem when the middle class can’t hold themselves up like the others. Some middle class people and workers work so hard and don’t earn the money they deserve. Some people still have to borrow money from people even when both parents are working very long hours. I think this should not be right and explains a lot about what's going on in the world right now.
The nation didn’t respond to the Great Regression that started around 1980 because they were scared what the outcome was going to be.I think that some bold steps we could take today is that more people are looking out for the middle class and not just letting them struggle.
ReplyDeleteJulia Campbell
A moment from this documentary that I found intriguing was that approximately 42% of kids who are born into poverty will stay poor throughout their lives. That would mean that there would be no improvement for people who are of the lower class. I think that it's repulsive that our economy is voluntarily making it harder for the lower class to move up through separate generations. If large corporations replaced the wages of their least paid workers to just a few dollars more, our lower class would have a more sustainable living situation AND the big companies would get their money back, and then some.
I believe that equality becomes a problem when we tend to hire people who don't meet credentials because we have similar interests. I believe that we need to hire people on their ability to work, not because of their race, sexuality, or religion. Another problem with severe inequality is when we give away people jobs because the larger company wants to make more money that they won't use or distribute fairly to its employees.
I think people didn't acknowledge the great regression because they didn’t pay too much attention to the economy since they considered it to be working. They didn't think to acknowledge it properly because they could manage it. To fix our economy now, I think that we should stop giving excessive amounts of money to the CEO’s and founders in the company since they clearly don't use it/ know where it's even going.
ReplyDeleteLucy Elerath
1. In the documentary I found it interesting, just as I said before when Robert Reich interviewed the really rich guy, the guy said, “even the richest guy sleeps with only two pillows under his head.” Another thing is the middle class is seen as only slightly better off from the lowest class/poor.
2. Inequality will always be a problem. We have never seen a society that was 100% fair,¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and we never will. No one is perfect and nothing is perfect. People born in the United States are automatically better off in life, more financially stable than in other countries. There are however correctable inequalities such as racism and bullying, but the harder subjects like diseases, religion, and money are heated. I think it is hard to find a balance without greed and self-pride getting in the way. Inequality becomes a problem when a company has to lay people off or cut salaries, yet the top guys in the company's salary stay the same, why does the money keep going in their pocket and not coming out to try to keep the workforce? Even though they may be more experienced or qualified to handle a harder position, the company still needs the other workers. The type of jobs people have are also brought to mind in an unequal way, such as when you think of a lawyer or doctor- success and $ money come to mind- but when you think of a teacher, coach, or an assistant of some sort there is less respect and we downgrade those jobs. Where there is more $ money there is more respect and more power and enemies. If we didn’t have those ‘less valued’ and ‘downgraded jobs’ (that are great) we would not have the more valued, desired, respected jobs. If we did not have teachers to teach young minds the young minds would not even know they should or how to be in those respected jobs.
3. I think the Great Regression was not acknowledged for all it was and people just thought it were not understanding the cause. The lower classes primarily suffered and maybe the upper classes didn’t recognize it for because they were used to it and didn’t understand it was worsening. I think something that would help would be if companies found out how their inventions/projects/salaries affect the lower class employees and general people, like if they brought in lower-class consultants. The companies do not like the bad publicity and they know if they fixed the problem they can profit more and grow. Also when the companies should not be continuing to put money in the higher-ups in the company when they are laying off people.
Gannon Sylvester
ReplyDelete10/23/18
English ©
I thought the protestors were particularly troubling because it showed the amount of anger that lower and middle-class U.S. citizens felt toward the government. I also found it disturbing that they were so violent, like smashing the glass windows at Wells Fargo Bank. Looking for someone to blame, many people blamed immigrants and Muslims for taking their jobs. At Cal Berkeley, many students protested on campus against corporations donating limitless amounts of money toward politics.
2. Inequality becomes a problem once the upper class starts making millions and millions of dollars more than our middle class. In Robert Reich’s childhood, he dedicated his life to fighting bullies and empowering people who are vulnerable. In his adult life, this means standing up for those in our country who are powerless, the poor. His bully protector was tortured and killed for standing up for what he believed in. Historically, our economy thrives when the middle class is spending money. I see inequality becoming a problem around my community when there are homeless people living on the streets of Boston. Everyone should have the opportunity to get an education, a good job and the ability to make a living.
3. During the Great Regression that started around 1980, I believe people were afraid of inequality and wanted to deny that it was a problem. Many citizens and the government politicians denied it repeatedly. In 2008, there was the housing market crash which the government only acknowledged once it was a major meltdown. Because a lot of the upper classes money goes towards helping lots of lower class get angry.
Frankie Huntress
ReplyDeleteQuestion one.
One part that is really stuck with me from the video was that four hundred people have more than 40% of all of the money and that some of these ceos are cutting peoples wages when they make so much money
Question two
I think in equality become a problem when some people have billions more than they can spend and some people are struggling to get through the weeks with two working people in a family that's when i think inequality is a problem.
Question three
I think people don't think that they would be in the same spot they were economically when it came time to pay of the loans that they were taking out to spend money and what we talked about yesterday with the three thing s that the did they took loans more hours and women started working. Big steps that we could take today would be start taxing the rich at 80% have big companies start increasing wages with prices of thing cost.
Sophia Lakos
ReplyDeleteSomething from “Inequality for All” is that salaries are not increasing with productivity. Everyone is doing more work and they are either getting paid the same and maybe less, also where is this money going? They shared that back in the day a family could live on one person salary, nowadays both have to work. It is shocking how inequality grew so fast and got so bad really quick.
I think inequality becomes a problem when the one percent people are making all this money and not spending it to benefit others. Also, there was this lady interviewed that her pay was being cut, and that part was going towards the one percent people. If they are making this much money why do they need her paycheck.
I think no bold steps were taken because no one thought it would turn into this big of a problem. Also until I saw this documentary I did not know about this I thought everything was fine. That is just a cover for what is actually happening, I think people are scared to make a change thinking it will mess with the system.