Overview: We recently
viewed the first part of the documentary, Inequality for All in which Robert
Reich addresses this issue from the economic viewpoint and explains how it
impacts all Americans. You expressed
your opening views on the film and made comparisons to Ayn Rand’s Anthem.
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?
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Dowol Lee
ReplyDeleteOne part of the documentary was when they showed the cycle that showed us that we were going no where in this problem and the effects of money distribution. I found it troubling that our country had a huge problem that I never heard about until now. That says something. The cycle showed us the effects are huge. The inequality has big consequences and needs to be fixed. Inequality becomes a problem if the inequality is too much. When it starts to effect a big amount of Americans. I think when it starts effecting other parts of the United States. I think we didn't stop the Great Regression in 1980 because that would stop big time CEO's from getting more money. Overall, I think we should've started coming up with plausible solutions right when we started seeing a change. Since we didn't we should solve the problem as a whole
Jillian Boyer
ReplyDeleteI think that Inequality becomes a problem when people begin to abuse the right. For example, people of different races are treated differently, and they should be, but the way we treat them differently is what is wrong. We treat them as less r more than others, when how we should treat them differently is by respecting the differences in their cultures, and not to shame them from not being like one race. But when it really becomes a problem I think, is if we let everyone decide for themselves all of their inequalities, and they take that for granted. Lets say a colored man is pulled over by a cop for speeding. I know that this is something that has happened, where the colored man will abuse his difference and say something along the lines of, "Are you giving me this ticket because I'm colored?" which he would know is something he could say to get out of the situation, if he was actually in the wrong. This, on a larger or more common scale would be a perfect example of letting inequalities become a problem. Leaving the abusing piece aside, I believe that action to help different people who are not equal,should be based on things that they cannot change. people are born with different genders, different races, different sexuality, intelligence levels etc, that they (For the most part) cannot change, so we as a society should try to accommodate for all of the inequalities like those.
Michael DiCenzo
ReplyDeleteThe part of the documentary that really stuck with me was when they showed the cycle that showed us that we were going nowhere in this problem and the effects of money distribution. I found it troubling that our country had a huge problem that I never heard about until now.I think equality starts to become a problem when people can not live comfortably and they have to borrow more and more money which creates more and more debt. When people are making a surplus of 5 million dollars while the middle class in only making 30-40 thousand dollar it's unfair and they don't need that much money. They didn't do anything in the after 1980s because they thought it would be impossible or at least very unlikely to happen again they also thought it would be a once in a lifetime thing.
Suhani Kari
ReplyDeleteA moment from Inequality for All that is sticking with me is when they talked about ‘The Vicious Cycle.’ The first step to 'The Vicious Cycle' is that first worker buys less which is not good because it doesn't benefit their company. After that tax revenues decrease which is not good either because tax cuts only help the rich because it can lead to a reduction in government services. After that, the Government cuts programs which is not good because many people need different programs. When the government cuts programs workers are less educated, and after that unemployment rises. The whole 'Vicious Cycle' really makes me wonder about how a strong, steady economy can spiral downwards and it fascinated me when I thought about it that way.
Inequality becomes a problem when the middle class is working so hard to maintain living under a roof. The middle class shouldn’t even have this problem, but now with the economic inequality, this is a big issue. I see a problem now in inequality because the middle class has to keep on borrowing money and going into massive debts to sustain themselves. Some families I know are in a lot of debt while both parents are working. Women are working, People are working many long hours, and you have to borrow money. Which says a lot about the economic crisis it’s just that nobody sees it.
I think that some bold step of action that we could take today is making sure that someone is looking out for the middle class (or American Worker). I think that the middle class needs to help out the middle class. The more prosperous employers of the workers often pay their workers inadequately. The ones who fully understand the middle class is the middle class so they should be the ones to set rules and condition for the middle class. We could all make sure that there is equality for everybody.
Shruthi Saravanan
ReplyDeleteA part in the show that I found somewhat troubling was when people were out in the streets destroying stuff, hurting other people, and causing chaos over inequality. It shows how big of a problem in is in the real world and how much it hurts people. This was very memorable because I remember a part in those clips where people were getting called out for their race and people were getting blamed for the inequality due to their race and it I really hated that. It was showing how people started blaming the people who came from other countries to the US for all the things that are unbalanced in the US. They gave us an example where people in the crowds were shouting at Muslims to go home, to get out and that they were the one’s cause this chaos. And that was far from the actual truth, it’s not the foreign people who cause the unbalance in the country, one of the bigger reasons are the really wealthier people compared to the ones who are quite poor and the huge difference between them. I think equality becomes a problem when the amount of it is too much causing the huge unbalance. If the amount of inequality isn’t that different, then many people won’t find that the difference between them and someone else is unfair. Though with the amount of difference we have today many people find it unbelievably unfair. With many people thinking like this the country tends to blame people that don’t actually affect it. This is one of the main problems inequality causes, and sometimes people take it to levels that are too harmful that it becomes dangerous. The reasons why the nation didn’t take any steps of trying to prevent the Great Regression that happened in 1980 to happen again maybe was because people could have felt like the country was getting back on track again they were going to stay somewhat balanced. So they probably felt like there was no need to take awareness of that so seriously.
Griffin Littlewood
ReplyDeleteSomething that really stood out to me were the riots. I thought the riots were particularly troubling because it showed the amount of anger that lower and middle class U.S. citizens felt toward the government and corporations while demonstrating in Washington, D.C. 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.
Inequality becomes a problem once the upper class starts making millions and millions of dollars more than our middle class. Due to 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. 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.
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. Since the upper class supplements so much of the government, the politicians should have used these funds to help citizens and not for their campaigns.
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ReplyDeleteXingyun Pan
ReplyDeleteThe most memorable moment for me is the woman who says that she only has 25 dollars in her account. She has two kids, she and her husband are both working. They don't have time to take care of their kids so they need to employ a babysitter. The babysitter is expensive, almost as much as her salary but she still needs the little extra.
I think when both of the parents in a middle class family need to go to work for just to get enough food was when inequality became a problem. For most of the people, the basic requirement for living is to get enough food and dress warm. It doesn’t matter how fancy their clothes are or how expensive their house is. If people don’t need to struggle for food and warmth everyday, they will not be so unhappy with it and there won’t be so many paraders on the street.
The nation didn’t respond because it will hurt the rich and the government’s benefits. They dare to prevote the rich and powerful. I think the government should gradually make the tax fair by seeing how much their income is on monthly base, and turn in a certain amount of percentage. But if the change of tax for the rich suddenly increase too much, they won’t accept it and they will fight against the government and the policy won’t be able to continue.
A moment in the documentary that really stuck with me was when i saw people in the streets rioting. This really surprised me because I thought this kind of stuff only happens in "bad" countries like North Korea or Venezuela, but I realized that people had some very strong opinions about this issue and they resorted to violence and vandalism to get their point across.
ReplyDeleteInequality becomes a problem when the upper class is making millions and millions of dollars but the average blue collar worker is barely getting by and having a difficult time just surviving on their tiny wages. I think it is a problem now and I see it when I see a homeless person on the streets or someone working overtime everyday just to get by.
When the great regression started in the 1980s people were too afraid of inequality to do anything and the CEOs wanted to make more money so they said nothing and everyone ignored the problem hoping it would just solve itself without anyone doing anything about it.
Luke Newton
DeleteOlivia Dionisio
ReplyDelete1. Something that really stuck with me was to have a support a family of four or five both parents in the household have to bring in income. In the documentary there was a family of two or three and they both needed to be working and create a spreadsheet of how much they spend to still be able to get food and put it on the table for their family.
2. I don’t think equality is that much of a hassle in our society and it shouldn’t be in others. One big thing would be equal pay. In 2010 the average worker pay was 33,000 and the average CEO was making was 10-30 million. I think that inequality was already a problem but now it is progressing into a bigger problem. A way we can try to improve our equality we could give equal pay towards women and men. This has been an uprising issue for many years now and everywhere you go there are always segregation's for this.
3. Some bold steps we need to work on and focus on is equal pay. We also need to bring back being able to work one job per household and still be able to support your family and feed them. You shouldn't need 2 plus jobs to function your everyday life. What I could do to help is make this situation aware to other people. I could also pay more attention to how much things cost and if I really need them.
Something that stood out to me were the horrible riots. I saw that they were so violent, smashing the glass windows at Wells Fargo Bank, and even getting the swat teams to shoot at them. They Look for someone to blame, many of the people blame the immigrants for taking their jobs. Many students even protested on there campus against corporations donating huge amounts of money toward the government.
ReplyDeleteInequality becomes a problem when the wealthy start to make millions and millions of dollars. When Robert Reich’s was a child, he dedicated his life to empowering people who cant fight themselves. This means standing up for those in the country who are powerless. The economy should thrive when the middle class is spending money. I see inequality becoming a problem when there are homeless people living on the streets. Everyone should have the opportunity to get an education, and a good job
I believe people were afraid of inequality and denied that it was a problem. Even though many citizens and the government politicians denied it. In 2008, the housing market crashed which led many people to lose their Jobs and homes. Since the upper class stabilizes so much of the system, the politicians should use these funds to help citizens instead of their campaigns.
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DeleteNick Entner
ReplyDeleteOne part that is really sticking with me is the part when he shows what they difference in wages between people in the graphs. It was surprising that the wages for some people are so low and they have no way to increase them. I think that this an awful thing happening but they are try to solve it.
Inequality becomes a problem when the wages of the low class become even less than they are now. When people start to get angry they need to have a solution to the problems. There is a need to at least have some equality in this earth. But right now the upper class has a big difference in how everything runs.
They responded to this event because the event was terrible for most people. It made it much harder for people to live there life. He did take the step to ensure it because the economy won't work for most people. We need to make the middle and lower class weathier.
Hanna Saad
ReplyDeleteA moment that is sticking with me is that the rich don't pay that much for taxes. And it is memorable because most of the money that they make they don't spend it they save it since there is so many things to buy.
It becomes a problem when there is not enough money for people to buy and work for since the rich only have so many things to buy.
Make the rich pay more taxes or have them start more businesses to make more jobs and keep the money circulating.
Celia Hoffman
ReplyDeleteI found the ending really inspiring. When Reich said that it was up to us to help fix what's going on, I really believed that. Understanding what is going on with the economy and the poor, rich and middle class, now, I think will helped me open my mind and be a part of the conversation. I believe that it is better for kids my age to be learning this now, so when we grow up we know what's going on and can help solve the problem.
I think inequality becomes a problem when there is an abundance of it. I think it is a problem now. It became a problem when there was such a big difference in the wage of a typical worker and the typical 1%, when the middle class’ income came to a stand still, and when it gets dangerous and people start blaming others out of anger, like the Berkeley, California riots. Lastly, I think it's a problem when politics are involved. Billionaires were buying into politics causing inequality to become an even bigger problem.
I think we need more people looking out for the middle class, other than Reich. We need more people to understand that is a problem. Once we have those people we could focus on incomes of the middle class, higher education, household debt and how much politics are involved. I think it will be hard to fix everything, but making people aware of the growing problem is a start to the solution.
Jacob Moore
ReplyDeleteI think the thing that stuck with me the most was when they showed all the middle class people at the riots. I found this moving because it shows how upset the middle class is and it shows the lengths that people will go to be heard by the 1%. It was really crazy because the people got so out of hand that swat teams would show up and they would throw a flash bang at the people in the crowd. I also think that the people got too carried away during the riots for example when they started to break the windows of stores and vandalise things. I also found it disgusting that people were saying that all the muslims were stealing their jobs and how they should be sent back to their country because they don't worship the right God. That stuff stuck with me the most cause it actually showed what was going on.
I think that inequality becomes a problem when the middle class can no longer afford to pay for everyday items. Also I think it becomes a problem when the top one percent just sits on their money so there isn't a good money flow for everyone. Currently I do see a problem with inequality now. Andover is a more wealthy town but some people rely on the schools to feed their kids because they cant afford a meal for them everyday I have seen some kids change schools or move towns because the schooling was too expensive. It's really just not okay and I hope something will change but I don't see anything happening anytime soon.
I think the reason that Why didn’t we take bold steps to ensure that the economy would continue to work for just about everyone was because the people in the one percent didn't want to lose any money. I think we need to fix the tax percentage for everyone because the rich have to pay way less taxes than the middle class and the middle class is the one that is suffering with taxes. I would try to get involved with these types of things so I could make a change but I don't feel like i'm educated enough to make a change.
Dylan Brenner
ReplyDeleteDescribe 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?
One moment in the film that really stuck out to me was when they were showing the cycle. This showed us that we weren’t doing much in the way of distributing money. I found this troubling because I really never thought of this till now.
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.
Inequality becomes a problem when people are struggling like the middle class was. I always thought that the middle class had enough money to hold themselves together, but they are almost struggling like the poor and that shouldn’t be happening.
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?
I think we didn’t take bold steps because people didn’t know what was gonna happen, they didn’t want to deal with inequality. We should all make sure that everybody is fair to each other and equal.
Yasmiin Ali
ReplyDeleteA moment in Inequality For All that really stuck with me was when they talked about how little middle-class people are paid. When the people in the documentary are talking about how they don't feel like they are middle class because of how much they are paid/ how long they work there per week. That part to me was very troubling to think about because I know one day I will have a job and I hope that I won't have to feel that way as well. Inequality becomes a problem when a middle-class person feel less then a “middle class” person should. The economy is not paying these people a lot of money that they deserve/ worked for. I always thought that middle-class people had enough money to hold themselves up, but the reality is that they are struggling like the poor are and that shouldn't be happening. I think the reason why the economy didn't take bold steps was that there are so many people to help and fix that they might not want to change a lot. They also don't want to deal with Inequality and the problem with it. What I could do is inform people like me who didn't know about this until recently, that they should help this problem in the future and change it as a community.
Robbie Mahlebjian
ReplyDelete1) The most memorable moment is when Reich says that the middle class was a key part of the economy. We are the consumers, and I don't think corporations think that of the people who are buying their product.
2) Inequality becomes a problem when the middle class is not that distinguishable from the poor and lower class, and it is very hard to buy things.
3) The bold steps we need to take to change the inequality of economy is that we have to provide more jobs and cap the CEO wage so they don't fire people to get a fatter pay-check.