1. In America, at this moment, only one percent of the population holds nearly quarter of the
nation’s income and approximately 40% of the nation’s total wealth.
Whether this is a good thing or a bad one is tough one to decide. Usually if wealth comes to
a particular strata of the society, then it is supposed to benefit the entire society as a whole.
One successful business is supposed to generate better business opportunities for the other
businesses as well. But in the case of America, this does not exist. Putting it in terms of
creating true wealth, one may find that the upper strata of their society might have
achieved personal growth and development but not a spiritual one.
A spiritual wealth is one that enriches the spirit as a whole – something which is achieved
by the satisfaction of giving and by being generous. In case of America, the upper strata
have thrived on the theory of bringing better life to the people, but in reality, they have only
created more inequality and have seen more of their own personal gains. One of the
evidences of this is the tax policy they employee. Lowering tax rates on capital gains, which
is how the rich receive a large portion of their income, have made the rich more richer and
the poor more poorer. One might ask - how is lowering tax rates related to the rich by any
means, the government is supposed to be responsible for it. Yeah, the government is
responsible for it. But there is strong integration between the government and the rich. This
can be ascertained by the lax enforcement of antitrust laws by the government because of
which there is high amount of manipulation that happens in the financial system of the
country.
The American politics has been dominated by mainly 2 parties since the American civil war -
the Democratic Party and the Republican Party . When the 2 parties exist as an oligopoly,
there are bound to be high amount of manipulations and corruption at the top level in the
country. Because only the 2 parties hold the power in a capitalist nation like America, the
rich have always had an opportunity to integrate with these existing 2 parties in power.
The effects of this, we all know – higher inequality in the nation with respect to wealth,
lesser opportunities for new businesses to come, the rich becoming more richer, the poor
becoming more poorer, higher manipulations at all levels and the government influenced by
the powerful rich stronghold in the country.