Since the 50's money has been a big thing but recently it has become "stunning" and there is no end to some people's wealth. Over the last decade the level of wealth, power, and prestige has risen in America; for example in the first year of the Forbes 400 it took $159 million to make the list which has now grown to a $1.3 billion minimum point. This stretch in the wealthiness of the rich has greatly widened the gap between the rich and poor. Similar gaps in the economic status were present in the Depression with a huge distinction between rich and poor. When a economy is fueled by the people and the wider the gap gets between the economic classes the more offset the economy becomes
because the rich get richer the poor get poorer but the poor are the majority.
Have we not learned from the past and kept our economy too free? The article discusses how the economic problems will alter the image of prestige and wealth on wall street. People will hold on tight to their economic status no matter what just as unemployed men waiting in line for free donuts and soup during the depression, came suited in their business clothes and top hats to signify the jobs they used to have and wealth they once beheld. A man interviewed in the article reminisces how "this feels very similar, historically to 1929 and the emotions that filled the air in the months and years that followed the crash..a sense of shock and astonishment followed by outrage directed at the centers of finance." In the shocking drop in the stock market many citizens were voicing their anger towards the government and trying to blame certain companies and major powers. In fact the other day on CNBC or NBC a news caster was reporting on "the 10 most wanted governmental officials and company executives" wanted for blame of the economic crash. Are we going to have another depression? Are these the feelings in the air currently? Bye bye to big living.
3 comments:
I see your point with the parallels to the Great Depression, but i feel like the primary reason that there seems to be so much more money around is the dependence that we have on credit. For so long, so many people have been living outside of their means, not having enough money to pay for what they buy. With this in mind, i don't think that people are so much wealthier than they were in the past as they just spend a lot of money that they don't actually have.
Not only are people spending money they don't have, but banks have been giving loans to people who have no means of getting the money to pay it back, which is resulting in the banks' failures. I also agree with your comment that there seems to be a large gap between the rich and poor. And now that student loans are harder to get, the rich will have an even greater advantage over the less wealthy. Many kids who do not come from money will not be able to get student loans for college, and sadly, their educations might have to end when they graduate highschool.
Well in the article there was substantial evidence on how our nations wealth has grown and noting the huge rise in the top peak of the Fortune 500 list shows that the typical wealthy American does have much more money than they did say 50 years ago. The "rich" standard of our country has moved up the ladder but this also could be due to credit. With the freedom of credit Americans are spending more money because it at such easy access just to swipe a card but maybe this easy access if to accessible and credit will lead to a downfall like the credit frenzy in the time period before the depression.
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