Recent orders
The essay, The Death of Horatio Alger by Paul Krugman
Name
Professor
Course
Date
Critique Assignment
The essay, The Death of Horatio Alger by Paul Krugman tries to show how it was easy to achieve the American dream in the past (in 1950s), and how at the current state of social immobility in the America, most people are finding it hard to become richer. Published in December, 18, 2003 in McGraw-Hill Reader, Krugman examines income mobility and social mobility of most of the American families in the past and the factors that contributed to the achievement of the American dream. He further examined the current “Wal Martization” economy in American that has resulted to the inability of low-income Americans to move up the social ladders. So to say, as Krugman observed, it seems that the American Dream is continuing to become a myth and a life of the past since as he predicts, there is a high likelihood that in the future, it will be more difficult for the low-income earners to moved up the income ladders and become rich (Krugman, “The Death of Horatio Alger”).
Krugman begins with an anecdote involving outrageous claims of a society in which the poor are becoming poorer; no matter how they work harder. He further observes that the sons are inheriting the wealth from their social economic fathers compared to how it was in the early 1930s. According to “Waking Up From the American Dream”, an article that was published in Business Week, a research that was conducted in the United States revealed that there was a considerable decline in social mobility as a result of the increase in wealth and income inequalities. According to the research, America has become more of a class-ridden society. Krugman observes that “Our political leaders are doing everything they can to fortify class inequality, while denouncing anyone who complains–or even points out what is happening–as a practitioner of “class warfare” (Krugman, “The Death of Horatio Alger”).
Krugman explains that there have been fluctuations in income distribution for the Americans since the early 1920s. For instance, he examines that for the last thirty years, America was a middle-income nation. He further indicates that according Claudia Goldin and Robert Margo, who were economic historians, they revealed that America experienced Great Compression during 1930 and 1940. During those years, there was great narrowing of income gaps as a result of the New Deal policy that led to the economic order. The New Deal introduced economic elements that ensured relative equal income distributions among the American people. These economic elements included the strong unions, taxes on corporate profits, inherited wealth, high incomes and the transparency in the corporate governance. As a results these strict economic measures, the new economic order was maintained for over a generation. The economic measures helped to maintain small income gaps among the American people. Moreover, Krugman presented a contrasting socioeconomic order by explaining how inequalities have dubbed the American lifestyle today. He reveals that the income gaps in America today has moved back to the Gilded Age America in 1920s; where the nation was characterized by the highly unequal society. According to the 1973 and 2000 data that was collected by economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez, it revealed that the real income of the majority low-income American taxpayers dropped by 7 percent. Meanwhile, the incomes of the minority high-income earners rose by 148 percent while the top 0.01 percent of the high-income earners increased by 599 percent; resulting to the high levels of inequality. However, Krugman explains that there are a lot of explanations that people are putting forward to explain the continuing socioeconomic inequality trends in America. For instance, apologists such as those of the 2001 Heritage Foundation piece have published papers such as the “Income Mobility and the Fallacy of Class-Warfare Arguments”. They purport that American is not a caste society and as a result, people may be rich at one time and poor next time and that, acquisition of wealth is open to all. However, Krugnam sheds a red light into the exceedingly socioeconomic inequalities in America by explain the present state of social mobility (Krugman, “The Death of Horatio Alger”).
He explains that people are finding it difficult to move up and down the social ladders especially when they reach their 30s. According to the 1992 report by Glenn Hubbard, it shows that majority of the Americans can who move from low-paying jobs to high-paying jobs succeed to do so only during their working lives. As Kevin Murphy comments, it is the same as “the guy who works in the college bookstore and has a real job by his early 30s”. It is however true that, during fist 30 years after the World War II, intergeneration mobility was a real experience in America. The Business Week has come up with a new report that shows that the past generation mobility has declined significantly. The decline has been attributed to the proliferation of dead-end, lack of jobs and low-paying jobs. In conclusion, Krugmans tries to come up with ways people practice to increase their wealth and become rich. He suggests that the government should cut down payroll taxes, estate taxes, and taxes on corporate dividend and capital gains; in order to pass their wealth to the next generation (Krugman, “The Death of Horatio Alger”).
Kugman is more informative on his article and has used a lot of evidence. Not only does he use his own observations and research, but he has used a wide range of information to back up his interpretation. For example, Krugman has cited the Business week magazine, the data from Congressional Budget Office and quotes from economist such as Kevin Murphy to elaborate his thesis. The use of the rich sources of information from different research sources makes his arguments relevant. Furthermore, the uses of quotes from famous economist and as a result, the data has added more strength to his article since it shows that he research is based also on primary sources. Lastly, Krugman has hypothetically expanded his claims and arrived at a valid conclusion. Although the article was written in 2003, I find it to be reliable and relevant because it reflects the current American society. As such, I agree with Krugman’s thesis that social inequality is here to stay in America and, the American dream will continue to be a myth.
Conclusion
The American dream of rags-to-rich storing is now being overlooked with a glaring face since there is now a strong correlation between what one is worth and the economic class in which a person is born. As a result, today, there are few people from the poor niche who are succeeding to make an entry into the affluence class. As the social and economic inequality continues to expand, it is becoming undeniably factual that we are living a rich-man-rich society.
Works Cited
Krugman, Paul. “The Death of Horatio Alger”. The Nation.
Retrieved from: http://www.thenation.com/article/death-horatio-alger#
The essay presents what exactly entails what is constituted in the work of criminal investigators although it does not touch
CJUS 420 DB1 Replies
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Response to Tish Browder
The essay presents what exactly entails what is constituted in the work of criminal investigators although it does not touch on scope of their work and their job risks. It is indeed true that criminal investigators who are also known as special agents do their best to protect both peoples’ lives and property through careful gathering of evidence and facts for criminal cases through reporting or keeping records of incidences they come across (Stelfox, 2009). Criminal investigators’ functions hugely depend on where they work such as local, State or Federal agency as well as their occupational specialty even though report writing and keeping detailed records is similar amongst detectives. Some of the examples of crimes that criminal investigators may engage in are homicide, drug trafficking, terrorism, espionage and fraud cases. Criminal investigators are always committed in accomplishing their work until either the case is dropped or arrest made (Becker & Dutelle, 2013). Because finding the truth is always very hard, criminal investigators are normally prepared for different life threatening situations that can see them suffering or even kill them. Finding the truth may at times need some suffering.
Response to Jack WadelAttending to a call or listening to the voice of Christ is very important because it is the only way of discovering one’s purpose. Most people wonder and do not settle in anything simply because they do not follow their purpose in life, something that make them waste a lot of time (Knox, 2012). Young people have been brought up to believe that to gain dignity, money, and success, they must pass in their college examination and get good jobs. Students go to college with good motive but later change because there are always some distractors that change the notion. Edmundson (2011) argues that some of the distractors are partying, going to clubs, music, friends, and sports. Students should be academically empowered in college instead of being triggered by the need to have dignity and riches. The society however has put money, wealth, and dignity ahead of everything thus making it hard to convince the students who are also part of the society to focus on the need to be educated (Edmundson, 2011). Considering that, a school is as a path followed by students to acquire jobs is misleading because very little attention is paid to the content of education.
ReferencesBecker, R. F., & Dutelle, A. W. (2013). Criminal investigation. Burlington, Mass: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Edmundson, Mark. (2011, August 22). “Who Are You and What Are You Doing Here?” The Oxford American. 74. Retrieved from http://www.oxfordamerican.org/articles/2011/aug/22/who-are-you-and-what-are-you-doing-here/
Knox, Steve. (2012, July 23). 5 Ways to Pursue your Calling Without Wrecking Your Career. Relevant Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/career-money/5-ways-pursue-your-calling-without-wrecking-your-career
Stelfox, P. (2009). Criminal investigation: An introduction to principles and practice. Cullompton: Willan.
Presidential Powers
Presidential Powers
Nasty advisements have already aired in most if not all of the national television channels. One aired during the 2004 pro-bush campaigns claimed that president bush a fanatic of Adolf Hitler but also that his followers are goose-stepping Nazis .Dick Cheney has a firm believe that the end of America is due another viewed. Most of these nasty advertisements are financed by the 527s the citizen cites that most 527 are now controlled by congressmen and by financing the so called 527s corporations have found a way directly supporting congressmen in return gaining favors from them during the legislation. This has seen to it that the 527s have hijacked the election process.527s fall in the section of the constitution that stipulates the governance of organizations that primarily attempt to influence election campaigns, lawyers have successfully argued that they are exempted from the restrictions of federal campaign law hence can collect huge chunks of money from organizations and wealthy tycoons these has enhanced their operations. The public citizen on performing a study found out that a majority of contributions to the top of 25 political 527s from July 1 200 to June 30, 2001 came from 27 major industries. Further findings state that ordinary people were largely absent from the list of donors of to the top 25 political 527s.most of the country’s politicians have created more political 527s Representative Shelley Berkley created silver state 21st century on 6/20/2001 while Senator Conrad burns created friends for big sky 0n 2/20/2001 just to mention but a few. Evidently elections have been hijacked by 527s and hence these organizations should be banned or more strict laws be passed to curb the menace but since passed of this laws heavily depends on the same congressmen journalists policymakers and watch dogs should became familiar with these shadowy organizations, entities, their favorite patrons and the flawed disclosure system they operate in.
Most of the United States congress men are confronted with varying dilemmas since they all come from varying homes and hence they represent people who are not similar and so is the places they represent. Hence each member will have to respond the personal, electoral and political influences a combination
difficult to maintain. Hence most of the congress people are at a loss they don’t know whether to act as delegates or politicos or even partisans. How will they represent their people in the best way? Most will wonder. David mayhew argues that most of the congressmen act the way they do in a bid to seek reelection so they will go at all lengths to ensure that they impress their constituents so as to boost their achievement during elections. However David is quick to note that some will act contrary to what their constituents expect them to. Hence if one sees a congress man behave in a certain way they are out seeking for votes. The best representation is to do what is right while balancing what is right with what your people want since after all a congressman should represent their constituents and not themselves.
While both treaties and the executive agreements are both agreements between two countries they differ in that while treaties require at least 2/3 rd of the congress the executive agreements are made single handedly by the president and will last only in the time the president is in office. In the executive agreement the president may decide to work unilaterally and this is referred to as a sole executive agreement or with approval of the houses this being referred to as legislative-executive agreements. Evidently the legal authority accorded to the president to make unilateral decisions is in conflict with the constitution bid to ensuring joint-decision making. The usage of executive agreement has flourished regardless of the fact that there is no reference to them in the constitutional convention or in the sate ratifying conventions. Federalist papers are silent on this matter. One instance of such executive agreements came to force is the Paris agreement of 1973 by President Nixon. On the other hand treaties need approval by the houses hence limiting the presidential powers such a treaty is the treaty of fort stanwix ,in north America the boundary established by the proclamation of 1763.
While Washington was a firm believer that people should respect the office and the president himself. He started the administration of inclusion and would sit down with his advisers which led the current cabinets Jefferson on his side expanded power by resisting courts. Jackson made full use of the veto power he vetoed bills that he found objectionable for other reasons. The government took a greater role of people everyday lives the government grew as a result of this, this growth of government would led to increased presidential powers during the era of Franklin Roosevelt . Richard Nixon obstructed justice and engaged in illegal conspiracies. During the administration of George w bush, improper use of executive orders, tightening the legislation on the access of information, ambivalence of the congress and the manipulation of the media became more evident. The bush administration saw a n executive branch whose size was last seen before the end of cold war, the invasion of Iraq, the Kyoto treaty and the placement of conservatives on the supreme court. Though his popularity ratings declined considerably he continued to pursue policies that are illegal like torture of prisoners.
Works cited
http://www.americanforeignrelations.com/A-D/The-Constitution-Executive-agreements.htmlhttp://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/pres1.htmhttp://www.asil.org/insigh10.cfm.