Inequality by Design EC

In chapter 6 of Inequality by Design, Fischer and Voss discuss certain American policy choices that contribute to the increasing degree of inequality in the United States. In fact, they state that the US has the greatest inequality in earnings among full-time workers and that that inequality has increased since 1970 (129). The authors emphasize the concept of “visible” and “invisible” policies. “Visible” policies describe more obvious redistributive programs used by the government, such as welfare spending. Programs that help Americans with low incomes, including food stamps, AFDC, WIC, Medicaid, SSI disability, etc. seem to be abundant, however, they only accounted for less than 12 percent of all government expenditures at all levels in 1992 (132). Even though these programs are meant to help the public, they are usually vulnerable to budget-cutting and lack wide political support (131). “Invisible” policies, on the other hand, describe “largely unnoticed policies that [can help] set the ground rules for the competition to get ahead” (129). According to the authors, these types of policies might even be more significant than “visible” ones. “Invisible” policies usually end up simultaneously decreasing inequality between the middle class and the wealthy and increasing the gap between the middle class and low-income Americans (136). The authors state that tax deductions and programs to increase middle class home ownership help close the gap between the rich and middle class (136). It is unfortunate that even though these social policies are intended to deal with poverty and decrease inequality, they actually tend to worsen the situation and increase the inequality gap.