You and a friend go to McDonald’s for salads (weird). While you are there, an old...

You and a friend go to McDonald’s for salads (weird). While you are there, an old man says, “You kids are so lucky today. When I was a kid in the 1950s, I never went to McDonald’s. Look at your fancy phone! Life was hard back then. Not like today. You have it easy. Anyone can be rich today!” Explain (politely) why this old man’s point of view is incorrect:

a. Explain to him whether or not the United States is a meritocracy and the relationship meritocracy has to inequality.

b. Explain what has happened to economic mobility over the last several decades. What has happened to the wealth gap over the last sixty years?

c. Explain how more recent trends in deunionization, wages, income, taxes, and safety net programs have made it even harder for people to earn a decent living, let alone become millionaires.

Expert Solution

a.United States is a meritocracy since one of the governing principles of US policy is equality of ooportunity and not equality of outcomes.This leads to a meritocracy which favours those with wealth since they have better resources to take advantage of the opportunities. Despite opportunities being equal(in theory), the access to these opportunities is inequal depending on wealth individuals possess.This has led to the creation of an entrenched elite and an ever widening level of inequality.

b.Economic mobility has severely fallen over the past few years since wages have not kept up with price rises.This could be attributed to rising costs of commodities such as housing, education and transportation which ae essential for upward mobility.The once strong middle class has been depleted due to the decrease in quality jobs available to those without a college education.The wealth grap has grown significantly as the top 1 percent own more wealth than the bottom 50 percent(levels similar to the ones present in France before the Revolution)

c.Deunionisation - Workers get exploited since they cant negotiate wages and the decreasing number of jobs means people are forced to settle for what they get and there exist no private union protections to stop it.The fall in wages means that the purchasing power of the average worker has fallen which affects consumptionThe increase in taxes on products as compared to taxes on income has led to disproportionate harms for the most underprivileged classes in society.Safety nets are not equal throughout the USA and are heavily dependant on the State policy which means relative inequality even within the USA has increased.The minimum wage has not kept up with rising inflation means entry level jobs dont cover any basic costs pushing people into debt that they cant afford either. Earning a living is literally impossible on some of the wages paid today. An idecrease in technology costs means access is higher but thats farcial.Society is worse today than it was in the old man's time from a mobility perpsective.

Rahul Sunny answered 2 years ago

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