The Discrepancy Among the Rich and the Poor
Uploaded by yijung on Apr 26, 2005
The Rising Discrepancy Among the Rich and the Poor
The United States of America is unquestionably one of the most economically developed countries in the world. Apparently, with the riches come the self-interestedness and indifference towards the difficulties of others (try the 90-100 billion dollar's worth of food gone to the trash every year (What) when millions around the world are dying of hunger). This indifference is not only for citizens abroad, but also for citizens within our country. With the availability of work for the labor force of our country steadily declining due to profit-seeking American corporations and the tip of the money-making pyramid becoming smaller and smaller, the poor are bound to get poorer, and the rich, richer.
In his expositive essay, "Why the Rich Are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer," Robert Reich makes a very convincing argument stating that the growing discrepancy between the wages of white and blue-collared workers in America is due to an inevitable declining of the workforce in the country. With irrefutable data, he speaks of attributive factors such as cheaper labor abroad and advancing technology, which has been replacing many breathing, living human workers, to substantiate his claims.
Being one of the most developed countries in the world, America has a more costly standard living compared to other countries. Consequently, the people of those countries can live a comfortable life in their countries with a relatively much less income than the average workers of America. The result: cheaper labor abroad for large American corporations. The more profitable choice is painfully clear- why pay American workers to do simple, routine production when there are many others all over the world willing to do the same work for a fraction of the original wage? With transporting goods becoming more and more available and less pricey, it's no wonder American companies are setting up factories worldwide for mass production.
To deliver his point more effectively, Reich lists plenty of "big-named" corporations. The easiest to follow is AT&T, a magnate in the telephone industry. According to Reich, AT&T hired routine producers in Louisiana to assemble standard telephones until it realized that workers in Singapore would cost much less. Then, as the company once again discovered an even cheaper labor force in Thailand, the Singaporeans were out of the job just as the earlier Lousianians (397).
It's not simply manufacturing industries that seek lower wages. Routine data processing,...