Growing up in the suburbs of Washington DC where communities are lined with beautiful colonial homes, manicured yards, new neighborhoods and shopping malls springing up everywhere, I could never argue with the fact that we are in fact living in the best of times in terms of prosperity and our access to means and resources for a comfortable life. It supported my belief that hard work is the truest path to American Dream, which I have personally witnessed in my own family.
However, a recent visit to Stockton, California, to mentor an Afghan refugee at his home, exposed me to an alternate reality. There were desolate streets, broken streetlights, and dilapidated buildings with yards ridden with weeds. Stockton is ranked one of the most dangerous cities in the US, it is …show more content…
Our progress as mankind is predicated on a harmonious economic balance across countries and our societies. Lack of that balance leads to revolutions and uprisings which can undermine progress and could be an existential threat to many societies as evident throughout history. President Obama called widening income inequality the “defining challenge of our time.” Following the recent elections in the US, it was common to see headlines like – “US election: a working-class backlash against economic inequality.” The gap between the rich and poor is at its highest level in decades. A recent survey found that in the USA, the top 1% of families captured 52% of total real income growth per family from 2009-15 while the bottom 99% of the families got the rest 48%. Estimates also suggest that near half of the world’s wealth is now owned by just 1% of the population. Data confirms that countries with larger income inequality have a much worse life expectancy, more mental illness, obesity, people in prison, teenage births, and violence. These problems are constantly intensifying as the inequality gap continues to
However, a recent visit to Stockton, California, to mentor an Afghan refugee at his home, exposed me to an alternate reality. There were desolate streets, broken streetlights, and dilapidated buildings with yards ridden with weeds. Stockton is ranked one of the most dangerous cities in the US, it is …show more content…
Our progress as mankind is predicated on a harmonious economic balance across countries and our societies. Lack of that balance leads to revolutions and uprisings which can undermine progress and could be an existential threat to many societies as evident throughout history. President Obama called widening income inequality the “defining challenge of our time.” Following the recent elections in the US, it was common to see headlines like – “US election: a working-class backlash against economic inequality.” The gap between the rich and poor is at its highest level in decades. A recent survey found that in the USA, the top 1% of families captured 52% of total real income growth per family from 2009-15 while the bottom 99% of the families got the rest 48%. Estimates also suggest that near half of the world’s wealth is now owned by just 1% of the population. Data confirms that countries with larger income inequality have a much worse life expectancy, more mental illness, obesity, people in prison, teenage births, and violence. These problems are constantly intensifying as the inequality gap continues to