Economic Inequality in the United States

Key Questions:

1. How unequal is the United States?

Bridge Announcement!

1. Bridge is AWESOME
2. Bridge is important
3. Dropping the ball on your mentee sucks
4. BRIDGE LUNCH ON WEDNESDAY
5. Talk to your mentee about where to find each other
6. Let them know if you won’t be here on Wednesday and RESCHEDULE a time to have lunch!!!!

Framing:
Our goal this week is simple: to be able to describe the current situation of inequality in the United States. Our goal is NOT to come up with solutions (yet!), or even to understand why this is happening (though you might get a taste of this).  We just want to get a firm grasp on the statistics and data that show the growth of inequality in recent decades.

Starter 17- What do you know?

1. What do you know about inequality in the US?  If you don’t know anything for sure, what are your impressions?
2. What questions do you have about inequality in the US?

The Basics:  Wealth Inequality
Prediction

1. Imagine the US is divided into quintiles (groups of 20%)
2. How do you think the wealth of the US is divided between these?
3. How do you think the wealth of the US SHOULD ideally be divided between these?  Why?

Wealth Inequality in America
Watch the infographic!  

1. How did your prediction stack up?  
2. How did your ideal stack up?
3. What do you think explains the difference between the ideal/predictions/reality?

Broad Sweeps:  Notes

1. WWII to 1970s = economic growth and shared prosperity
   1. Incomes grew rapidly and at roughly the same rate up and down the income ladder, roughly doubling in inflation-adjusted terms between the late 1940s and early 1970s.
   2. The income gap between those high up the income ladder and those on the middle and lower rungs — while substantial — did not change much during this period.
2. Beginning in the 1970s, economic growth slowed and the income gap widened.
   1. Income growth for households in the middle and lower parts of the distribution slowed sharply, while incomes at the top continued to grow strongly.
   2. The concentration of income at the very top of the distribution rose to levels last seen more than 80 years ago (during the “Roaring Twenties”).
   3. Wealth more highly concentrated than income.  

Peer Critique
See the document linked above for critique groups and instructions.  It should look familiar- it's very similar to the college essay process.

Finish your peer critiques.  When you're done, sign up for a writing conference, then read or revise for the rest of class.

HOMEWORK: 

1. Revise Class Narrative Essay (Final Due Monday, 10/9)
2. Hillbilly Elegy- Chapters 6-10 (to page 177) by next Tuesday.  About 13 pages/day for the next 7 days.  Read chapter 6 by Thursday.
   Evicted- Chapters 9-16 (to page 203) by next Tuesday.  About 13 pages/day for the next 7 days. Read chapters 9 and 10 by Thursday.