Response to the video posted regarding Wealth Inequality in America: http://mashable.com/2013/03/02/wealth-inequality/
I’d like to start with a disclaimer that I do not think that the current reality of our nation’s wealthy distribution is anything to be proud of. A thriving middle class is what drives an economy, but that being said, the solution to the issue does not lie in any socialist type of principles.
For every negative there is a positive. Therefore, wealth inequality has a positive. It’s a positive that we have stood by since the early days of our nation – equal opportunity. Framing the conversation in the negative fails to address the real issue that our nation faces. It’s not that wealth is inherently bad, that would make us socialist. The issue is that somehow the odds are stacked against people thereby creating opportunity inequality. The idea that this country was founded on the belief that if you can dream it you can achieve it rings true to everyone, yet its reality is somewhat different. We should be more focused on understanding how that really translates today as opposed to a few decades ago. How much harder do people have to work? What are the chances that a mere high school diploma will yield the sort of success it did a few decades ago?
We should be focused on the underlying issue that creates opportunity inequality – lack of education. Our schools are behind on a global scale, everyone knows that. Compare our public school system to our nation’s elite private schools and the issue becomes clear. Education is the key – not just for the sake of obtaining a degree, but for the sake of being fiscally responsible. I grew up in a lower middle class household. My parents valued education more than anything else. They understood that the “wealthy” and the “successful” in this country by and large valued education and sought the best education for their children.
The idea of formal education is not the only type of emphasis that is lacking in this country, but also fiscal education. I don’t have statistics off hand but I can imagine that a majority of Americans don’t know how to balance their check book, don’t have equity in their homes (notice I don't even go as far as to say that they have their home paid off), and live outside of their means. These are all factors that contribute to the so-called “wealth inequality” and are not the fault of anyone sitting in the 1%. You can argue that the policies implemented by the so-called 1% made it easier for ordinary Americans to buy homes and take on a debt everyone knew they couldn't afford, but that would just be finding a scapegoat to the problem. Fiscal responsibility must begin at home.
Back to my parents. Both of my parents are immigrants. They came to this country with nothing and today have several properties paid off and a healthy retirement fund. They are not mathematicians or professors. My dad has been a blue collar worker for most of his life and my mom is an information technology analyst. They raised two children, went on vacations, enjoyed life and managed to save enough money to pay off two houses and a vacation property. They invested in an education fund for both of their children. They were not anywhere close to the 1%, but they had wealth. This wealth was a result of financial planning and budgeting. Each week my dad would sit down and balance his checkbook, he would budget the amount of money needed for all aspects of our lives, from groceries to school supplies, vacations and our extracurricular activities. It was through this meticulous and thoughtful planning process that they built equity in their home and created wealth.
And while this idea of financial planning and fiscal responsibility is not novel, it is not being practiced at all levels of our society. In fact, someone in the 1% is much more likely to have a financial planning system in place than someone in the bottom 20% who would benefit much more from such a system. The solution shouldn't be to somehow redistribute wealth so that the poor are less poor and the rich are less rich. Who said the pie couldn't get bigger? $54 Trillion is not a ceiling on the amount of wealth our nation can have. The solution should be to focus on education, educate Americans so that we can build wealth and create a culture of savings and long-term financial planning. Let’s focus on achieving our vision of equal opportunity through education.
