This week we continued to talk about the myth of individual
opportunity, focusing a little more on the class system. We read from Mantsios’
essay “Class in America” in which he dealt with the issue of the rich having
way too much when the poor have literally nothing at all. I agree with him
fully about his stance on the rich having too much because no one needs to earn
$14 million a year. I don’t understand why people will pay more than 4x the
amount of money for a piece of clothing just because it has a designer’s name
on it. People are paying for houses with twice the square footage that they
could ever use while just a few miles down the street, we have people living in
cardboard boxes.
We also
discussed an essay written by Newman and Chen titled “From the Missing Class”.
In this essay they talk about how there’s a class that most people haven’t
heard of. This class earns just about the poverty line, but they only make
enough to scrape by. These people usually work multiple jobs to try to stay
afloat, but to no avail. This class does exist, but is very often ignored, with
the attention on the poor and middle class. I personally know this middle class
exists because I know people in it. I see these people every day, but hardly
anyone acknowledges them. Why do we do this? We need to start taking care of
the missing class at least a little, because they may not survive if we do not.
You make man good points! I agree with you that the "missing class" needs to start being acknowledged!
ReplyDeleteI feel that the Upper Class has too much power, and I do agree with you when you state "no one needs $14 million a year."
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point, however to strengthen you argument I think you need to introduce an counter argument. I think it would be a good qualifier point to make that even though they make plenty of money, many of them are business owners who supply the millions of jobs that people in lower classes work. I like your points about the missing class. Keep up the good work Leah!
ReplyDeleteI don’t see anything wrong with someone making 14 million dollars a year. If anyone of us found ourselves in that position we would not be complaining. If you have the money to spend on extravagant things why shouldn’t you? As long as you’re being smart with your money and not spending it all on one place its fine. Keeping the money instead of spending it would be stupid because you can’t take it with you when you die.
ReplyDeleteI think you made some good points in your essay. The missing class should receive some help. If not then the lower class is just going to get bigger.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we need to help the missing class, because if we do not, they will go back to the poverty level where they can find help. The class either needs help, or we need to adjust what income brackets are eligable for help.
ReplyDelete