‘Inequality by Design’ _ Justin Chou E.C.

The Fischer and Voss article ‘Inequality by Design’ addresses trends in US policy that seemingly exacerbates domestic inequality. The article focuses on how lawmakers seem to prioritize the wellbeing of those in middle and upper income groups while low-income groups perpetually drag behind.

Groups aspire to gain financial security and increase assets as they search for homes and property. Policy makers have inadvertently widened the gap between lower and upper economic groups in an effort to help citizens actualize their American dream of homeownership. Some may argue that policy makers help each group in different ways; those in lower economic standing have disability, Medicaid, and other service while those in good economic standing get tax cuts. Those that make this argument fail to realize that expenditures on the poor such as food stamps, AFDC, WIC, Medicaid, SSI disability, etc. only accounted for less than 12 percent of all government expenditures.

The article by Fischer and Voss seemingly outlines a disturbing trend in diverging financial assets of different groups. It is curious, however, why families with limited economic standing fall behind despite overall rising domestic wealth. While we see the middle class rising in wealth they are also closing the gap between them and the highest economic class. In economic terms GDP should be rising due to an increase in aggregate wealth. I believe a rising tide raises all boats, while it is disturbing to see that the poor are being left behind, it is also true that they enjoy better economic standing today than they did a decade ago.

‘Inequality by Design’ shows that certain policies tend to favor different economic groups. While we should strive to limit overarching inequality, we should also be cognizant of how our overall economy would be affected if we were to retract such policy.