Inequality by Design Ch. 6 - Fischer and Voss

In “Inequality by Design”, Claude Fischer and Kim Voss explain that the inequality that is prevalent in the United States is due to the socio-political choices and policies that we, Americans, have put in place. They argue that there are invisible policies that have helped the middle class and the rich to become richer while leaving the poor to their own luck. The policies that the United States has put in place are those to help the poor based on merit; if they are working then they will get tax breaks. The people in power are the ones controlling who enters the market and how the market selects the people who will benefit.

It is important to take into account that the United States is one of the richest countries in the world. However, the United States is not doing much in aiding the poor and the working class. Other developed countries are doing better efforts to help everybody, such as universal health care, job training, and child care, in order to decrease inequalities in their countries. America is not doing any of these things because we have powerful lobbyists that pay outrageous amounts of money so that inequality could increase in order to benefit the rich. The rich are becoming richer and the poor are becoming poorer. This should be a reality check in that the state is not going to be able to hold itself up if this continues to occur. The poor will react if policies continue to disadvantage them. The United States should look to other developed nations to make policies that will affect everybody for the better and thus have little political gridlock. If we continue to put the burden on the poor and sometimes the middle class, the United States will face a movement for equality. It is as if the state is playing with a bomb that will sooner or later explode instead of doing something to fix it.

Thus, Fischer and Voss’ analysis on inequality in the United States is accurate in saying that policies are the ones that have constructed inequality. Policies such as redlining, attacks on unions, no wage setting, and tax breaks for the rich are just a few that have contributed to the immense wealth of the top 10% of the income distribution compared with the rest of society. There needs to be policies that will redistribute some of this money back to the people at the bottom so that inequality can be decreased in America.