As a member of the next generation of American workers, I stand with you in saying: we are in big trouble.
Over the past few years, the job market has become increasingly more unstable; graduates are frequently finding themselves either without a job or are having to settle with one outside of their field. Politicians are quick to blame income inequality for these trends, when the inequality is merely a side effect of deeper bureaucratic and social problems.
It’s important to note that varying incomes are not unique to modern society and have existed for centuries.
Without a doubt, we are faced with a brutal market, more debt and often seem to be trapped with a degree worth less than the paper on which it’s printed.
But rather than addressing the root causes of these problems, we instead are blaming corporations and its executives for the troubles college students and graduates face.
A Gallup poll conducted this week shows that 67 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with the distribution of income and wealth. In reality, inflation and substantial increases in the social safety net and the consistent growth of government have been, and still are, generating a deteriorating environment for job seekers.
The Federal Reserve has been issuing the creation of paper currency for the last 100 years and has been devaluing the worth of our money since its inception. What most people fail to recognize is that inflation, caused by the Federal Reserve, disproportionately affects the middle and lower classes much more heavily than the upper class.
For those who live paycheck to paycheck, the devaluation of their money is devastating; the wealthy are affected significantly less because they have a large enough income to compensate for that loss in value.
The prices of gasoline, groceries and even movie tickets have skyrocketed over the past few decades due to inflation, making even the most essential items more and more difficult to purchase.
Some argue that inflation rates are not to blame because they have decreased over the past 20 years. Although true, rates still hover around 2 percent and continue to devalue the dollar, causing prices to increase across the board.
Since its establishment, the number of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security recipients has continually climbed, as well as funding for those programs. Fewer Americans are searching for jobs and a growing number are beginning to receive government benefits.
Since the middle and lower classes constitute a large portion of the nation, they consequently make up the majority of these recipients.
From 2006 to 2011, Medicare-Medicaid enrollment increased by 17.7 percent and nearly 58 million beneficiaries received Social Security payments each year from the government; this is due in part to increased funding, but more importantly a consequence of a misguided moral system that encourages a large social safety net.
With the federal government doling out monthly checks to an increasing number of individuals, the incentive to work is diminished. I am not arguing that these recipients are lazy, but when faced with an already lackluster economy, the desire to enroll in a social program can become overwhelming when the government is more than willing to provide benefits.
Although it is true that the top 1 percent of Americans own about 35 percent of private wealth, this is a result of bureaucratic policies that have disproportionately affected the lower classes while allowing the upper classes to remain relatively unscathed.
Congress cannot legislate equality, and indeed it would be wrong to do so. Steps must be made to deregulate the market, and social programs should slowly be reduced in size. Only then can individuals and corporations pursue their own interests without coercion or corruption.
And only then will the job market begin to improve and the over-sensationalized income inequality will begin to fade away.