Essay Topic:

The problem of the economic differences among various racial, ethnic groups and differences on the base of being a male or a female.

Essay Questions:

Why do modern women work more than they used to 40 years ago?

In what ways women are and in what ways are not equal to men in economical terms?

What are the major economical differences among different racial and ethnic groups?

Thesis Statement:

Back in the past the majority women worked in their households and depended on their husbands and contemporary workingwomen earn only 44% from their potential lifetime earnings, so the majority of the work remains unpaid. There is no clear division for what women should and should not be paid.

Economic Society essay

 

Table of contents:

1. Introduction: Women 40 years ago.

2. Economic differences among racial and ethnic groups.

3. System of taxing.

4. The New Deal.

5. The tax burden.

6. Conclusion

Introduction: Women 40 years ago were more protected in term of their marital position. The numbers of divorces has lately grown leaving single mothers with children to grow. This is the reason women nowadays work much more that they used to do 30 or 40 years ago.Women all over the world face problems on their way to equality of rights. These problems vary from the laws of the country, which they live in. During the last 40 years the activity of American women brought them success in their strive to eliminate discrimination of the female gender. Nevertheless, women still have not achieved complete equality with men in professional activity, political positions as well as salaries.40 years ago men were able to provide their children and wives with everything needed. Today the majority are able to provide only for themselves and do not take responsibility for their babies. The number of single mothers has significantly grown in the last few decades. According to the latest statistics of the United States last year 1.5 million children were born to unmarried women. This makes 35.7% of the annual birth rate of the United States.

Public subsidies help single mothers and women; nevertheless it is often not enough without the help of the relatives, which they very often obtain regularly. Therefore a contemporary woman without corresponding education cannot obtain enough money to maintain proper living conditions. In certain aspects women are experiencing severe crisis compared to the situation 40 years ago.Academic qualifications of women are higher than back in the 60th, nevertheless they are still not competitive enough for the contemporary society, as they cannot dedicate all their time to work like men do. A great difference is also made by the decline of the number of teenage mothers – in 1970 they made up to 50% of unwed births and in 2004 if decreased to only 24% of unwed births. Nowadays women have become decent concurrency for men. But this converts US women into businessman and not loving mothers that look after their children. This in its turn influences the developmental process of the children, as they need their mothers and not baby-sitters. Back in the past the majority women worked in their households and depended on their husbands and contemporary workingwomen earn only 44% from their potential lifetime earnings, so the majority of the work remains unpaid. There is no clear division for what women should and should not be paid.

2. Economic differences among racial and ethnic groups

Economic differences still persist in the United States of America as the majority of African- Americans still live below the poverty line. The majority of companies feel more comfortable hiring Caucasians than the representatives of other nations. Nevertheless, at the same time the representatives of these minorities are not less qualified by any means. So the only reason they are often hired is because they are simply “cheap working force”. The major example is the tutoring programs for these “more convenient” workers. The wealthiest people of the United States make a very small percentage from the general population.Nowadays the term “discrimination” is used very often, it may be even said that it is used as a protection. It goes without saying that ethnical minorities in the United States are not limited in their opportunities. And the fact of discrimination is rather questionable?It is not necessary to see the statistics to note that among the students of prestigious colleges minorities occupy a rather small part. It is also important to mention the five main racial/ethnic groups in the United States of America: Hispanic, Caucasians, African-American, Asian and Native American. White people make up to 70% of the nonelderly people in the United States. African-Americans represent 13% of the total nonelderly population of the country. The Hispanic population is on the third place. And it is common knowledge that Asians and Caucasians form the higher-income group in the United States1.

An African-American is more likely to become a basketball player then a scientist, due to the stereotypes that eventually influence their economical well-being. The economical differences are the result of less opportunities and lower goals that are set by the minorities.

For instance, illegal immigrant that pays no taxes. They are used as almost free working force and at the same time they have no benefits such as social security and educational option. This causes a high crime rate and special attitude to these ethnical groups. This is pre=determined by their social environment and education. It is a closed system that needs to be open. And the key to it – is educational opportunities for poor for different ethnical groups.

Economical differences between different racial and ethnical groups are primary the results of historical factors.

3.System of taxation

The existing system of taxation on the territory of the United States of America does not provide any relief for the families and people. The main taxes are divided between: income tax, expenditure tax (VAT), wealth tax, land tax, property taxes, capital gains, inheritance tax and some others.Though several attempts have been made – such as the tax code passed in 2001, the problem of taxation remained unsolved. According to Nancy Folbre the major issue to change is the current social insurance and education policies. People paying the Payroll taxes experience difficulties and even the profit form the income tax cuts do not help the situation a bit. Taxes remain a vital issue for the whole American nation as they altogether make two trillion dollars annually, which is basically one-third of the United States national economy. The present tax system is the result of the New Deal changes. It is the “child” of the 40th. According to the statistics one American child out of five lives in a family with an income that is below the line of poverty. Though Social Security system functions it still does not provide health insurance coverage for all the citizens that truly need it. The existing system requires the system of individual accounts to provide benefits for American people, especially for those who have always had unstable jobs, women with children and retirees. In addition to all the taxation problems there is also another problem that may be called – gender differences in taxation which result from the taxation of income from labor, progressive taxation of the income of married couples and other second earner costs to women.

The contemporary U.S. system of taxation has a lot of “rudiments” that need to be eliminated or to be renewed, as many factors are still not taken into account. The system is the reflection of old views of the U.S. economical and political systems, which were formed back in the 30th, and the 40th of the 20th century. The data for the formation of the “ingredients” of the system is often not clear or now known at all, like n the case of women’s taxation. It also covers the aspects of taxes for the future and the present retirees.

4. The New Deal

The New Deal is an event known as one of the greatest events, which happened during the Great Depression in the United States. It was caused primarily by the crash, which took place in the stock market. Lately it U.S. stock market crash became known as the “Black Thursday”. Roosevelt proclaimed the “New Deal” in 1932. The Deal was the next: Roosevelt offered a new politic to the American people. The American nation at that moment was highly preoccupied with the enormous unemployment in the country and the majority of people were in desperation. The New Deal was a kind of a domestic program that was to change American old ways. Roosevelt made a calling to the whole world basing his new work on the elimination of high tariffs, import quotas and many other things that caused the crisis. With the help of the New Deal Roosevelt was starting the progressive era in the American history. It consisted of numerous of government programs in each of the economical spheres of the country.

The New Deal government protected the interests of the companies and was committed to creating monopoly on the majority of goods. The economical life of the United States of American changes a lot owing to the fact that the all the workers and especially consumers were able to press their demands to the U.S. government. It created a big corporation out of the existing economical system. The New Deal especially tried to support the existing private businesses back then. Its main goal was to help those, who have been in a great disadvantage for a long time, but it still did not cover all the groups and forgot about many things. The integration of the Social Security system to the political priorities of the country was a big step. Nevertheless, social minorities were left out; especially this concerned the black people and their economical condition. Ethical minorities formed the marginal class during the New Deal which did not make any improvement of their position at all, but made it even worse. The New Deal did not truly cope with the Depression nevertheless compared to the previous U.S government it did bring stability to the economical sphere of the country emphasizing the importance of the stock market and the banking system. Before the New Deal the power of the Federal Government was not as strong and influential. It honestly did not protect the economy of the country. The primary thing it brought to the U.S. economy and politics was the protection of different groups against the existing corporative system that did not any business to develop. Owing to the Roosevelt’s New Deal certain groups got real rights which that could ask for from the federal government. This gave way for the development of the Liberal movements of the territory of the county. So, it had both negative and positive sides, leaving the problem of ethnic financial discrimination unsolved. Owing the New Deal the former economical instability was somewhat changed and integrated.

5.The tax burden

The tax burden is formed according to the collected data about wages and salaries, capital incomes and expenditures by commodity. Very often there are different kinds of shifts in the tax burden. It is necessary to mention that these shifts result from the changes in wages and salaries, interest rates and of course commodity prices. The tax burden harms the main three groups: youth, people with fluctuating incomes and especially retirees. The U.S. personal income tax has the lowest rate of 5% and the maximum of 19%. The whole taxation system is up to 29% of the whole country’s income level. Income taxes, pensions and retirement funds and medical aid form the most important sector of the tax burden of the United States.

The income tax, wealth tax, land tax, property taxes, capital gains, inheritance tax form the sector that influences the ordinary people the most. The personal income tax makes up to 12% of the whole taxation system. The distribution of the taxes nowadays faces a lot of difficulties, as many people remain unprotected. This is primarily due to the fact that a lot of people have unstable or part-time jobs. The top-wealth people pay their taxes while people living below the poverty line do not have enough financial resources to cover their expenses. This inequality needs to be changes. The sector of Social Security needs to have the major funds, as the health of the nation has always been the priority of the United States of America. The tax burden is fairly distributed as its range is from 5 to 19 percent. The question of the government fairly allocating the money it collects is very hard, as it touches the whole political and economical system of the country. Nevertheless, at the present moment it is necessary to remain it unchanged in its majority.

The government has a wide range of taxes it can distribute: income taxes, standard income taxes on employees, pensions and retirement funds, medical aid, other deductions and allowances, company taxes, capital transfer taxes and trade taxes. Their distribution is not fairly correct due to the fact that the wealthy people pay 50% of the whole tax subtotal.

Conclusion: It is rather hard to evaluate the numbers of correct allocation of wealth due to the necessity of a deep statistics analysis, which is impossible without specialized programs. Some observers recommend changing the federal tax system to stimulate economical development and growth of concurrency. This is explained by the decrease of the labor productivity of in the US during the last decades. One of the brightest ways out of the existing inequality of wealth allocation is the reduction or elimination of the corporation income tax. This measure will stimulate the growth of profit from investments and expenses on new equipment and machinery. This would stabilize the economic system and provide more working places.

If the whole income were taxed by the social security tax it would have been proportional. Nevertheless, it is taken only from the income with a certain maximum around $65 000.Therefore the social security tax is a regressive one. Introducing the social security tax from the whole income will solve the problems of this sector and make the distribution fairer. “Rich” people cannot pay for everybody else, whole a number of people do pay less or almost do not pay for it at all. Household labor should be a tax too. Though many people are against it, nevertheless these people remain the ones most unprotected after retirement age. The allocations of the highest priority are education and social security, and then new equipment and machinery.

1 From the “The Council of Economic Advisors for the President s Initiative on Race”.