Aaron Mercado

                                                                                                            04/10/14

                                                                                                            ENG 102        

                                                                                                            deWit

                                                     Midterm Paper

Reality isn't what we think it is. America is suffering from the bad economy that the middle class doesn’t exist on a chart shown in this video called “Wealthy Inequality”. It shows the reality that the well off individuals are at the top and those less fortunate are on the bottom.  People think the ideal America is doing better, but in the book The Rich and the Rest of Us written by Cornel West and Tavis Smiley show how people today are copping in todays society. A story of a couple stood out in the book and how they had to survive paycheck to paycheck and one day forced to eat soup for two weeks because they were laid off. Outsourcing increases unemployment, which causes individuals in the US unable to pay for basic necessities such as taxes, their homes, and assets. Businesses go underwater which create a lack of tax money needed to fund essential needs such as public schooling.

            Unemployment rates have risen within past years. People that have lost their jobs often times didn't receive a college education resulting in them unable to get back into the work force. A majority of those laid off rely on the unemployment check as their only source of income. Obama fails to acknowledge those less fortunate. Since he has been in office he has tried to fight for more jobs within the US, but with the increasing unemployment what evidence shows his success with jobs in America? He's made it difficult for the typical person to obtain health insurance let alone increase the job opportunities in the market. Our tax money should be used to benefit those in our community so they may be able to receive an income instead of areas where aren't as necessary.

            Even those individuals who are unable to receive a steady income they still have the task of paying taxes. In today's society almost everything you buy includes a tax. There are two types of tax one is income tax the other is capital gains tax. Income tax is a percentage taken from an individual's paycheck. Second is capital gains tax, which is for the increase of stock, bonds, and properties. Often times people get excited when getting a tax refund when in reality they are just getting back a percentage of the money the government has taken from their paycheck. For people who fail to file their taxes they are audited. Being audited is when the government takes the amount of money the individual would have paid in taxes. If a person is unable to pay the amount of taxes that they own they have to report to court. The US government could use our tax money in ways that would benefit programs needed in society such as public education and funding for low-income organizations.

The reason society isn't up to certain standards is due to the high rate of students dropping out of school. The low funding for education in California has caused classroom sizes to double or even triple within the past few years. Most low-income families are given very little assistance. Kids are unable to get the proper nutrition even with “free lunch” provided by the school. Teachers are forced to squeeze the entire curriculum into kids brains, with a ratio of forty students to one teacher there is that lack of individual attention needed for those who might be falling behind. Most teachers have determined it would be best for them to leave as soon as possible so they would be able to have just enough for retirement. In the past I had a class with thirty-five students, the teacher had complained to the principal because he wouldn't be able to give the attention necessary for that class. On the second week of school he was given a notice that he would be laid off within the year due to lack of funds to continue his program. Kids may be having a difficult time in school because of large classroom sizes or other may be moving school repeatedly due to the parents having a difficult time keeping up with their mortgage.

The mortgage crisis has increased due to the economy. Most people have lost their homes or businesses due to the increase in jobs loss causing people to not spend as much money. The term “underwater” is used to define an object that has lost its value. For instance, if I were to purchase a home at $300,000 in 2010, in today’s economy the home would be worth $150,000 or less. About 5 to 10 years ago the economy was in good standing making people more willing to make purchases on things that they wanted. People would buy homes and other necessities left and right, due to the recession people have been having a hard time keeping up with payments causing banks to take people's home. It was already difficult for Americans to find a job, and then came the idea of outsourcing.

            With the bad economy many companies have found decided to take their business to other countries where labor is cheap in order to maximize their profit. An example of these countries is Mexico, China and Bangladesh. China is the location where the famous Nike brand outsources their products. What many people do not know is that the individual who made the product is paid very little then the company in turn charges extremely high prices to those buying them in the stores. Apple, for example, has workers in China sadly working in poor working conditions receiving very little in wages. When the public found out about this they started protesting against the mistreatment of those individuals. Walmart as well has done the same with Bangladesh. In April of 2013 there was an explosion of a garment planet located in Bangladesh but the reason wasn't reported. Walmart was so afraid of the public perception so the company paid reporters to prevent the story from leaking out. The company was afraid the negative publicity would affect the sales. If you were to look at the tags of some of the things you bought you'd notice that they wouldn't say made in the US. It is definitely sad to see people working in such poor unsanitary conditions and getting paid cents. All of these big companies say they have labor unions to support these people, but what we don’t know is if we can take their word on it. Disheartening to say but outsourcing is stuck where it is. If one day the big companies decide to bring those jobs back it would create an increase of job opportunities. This is highly doubtful due to the increase in expenses for the company to increase the wages to be up to the standards of the labor union.

            In the “Wealth and Inequality” video it portrays a chart showing the nations wealth. First they illustrate the world’s wealth in total anarchy, then the graph changes as it goes from high to low from the ideal perspective and what we actually think to what the reality of it is. The reality is that the nations wealth is with the top 40%.  The only way to move the wealth from the left to the right is to outsource less resulting in more jobs, which can create a source of revenue for the economy. With the increase of jobs people would be able to work again and thus have the ability to pay for their taxes. As Americans we need to push and strive for funding in education because they are the future of America.