Did you know that the top 1% of households in the United States produce more than 25 times what the top 99% household produced? Income inequality between rich and poor has been occurring since before the Great Recession, a period of time in which general economic decline manifested itself in global markets in the late 2000s and early 2010s. While the poor succeed barely able to buy their own food, the rich are drowning in money. Therefore, society should be aware that the rich continue to aspire to wealth while those living in poverty remain bankrupt. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Standard middle-class jobs are shrinking as the economy shifts away from manufacturing. Working-class kids who graduated from high school in the 1950s and 1960s got many opportunities for well-paid jobs. These jobs that required little or no experience disappeared, leaving most of the lower classes jobless. Not only that, but after getting rid of those jobs, new jobs were created that required a good high school history and experience, leaving out even the lower class. Jobs including manufacturing added about 1 million jobs between 1968 and 1978, in the last four years nearly 3 million jobs were eliminated. Almost all simple jobs with favorable wages have been eliminated, mainly due to strong growth and the desperate need for technology. Politicians believe that eliminating jobs will benefit our economy, in reality it has made things worse by expanding the underclass. The underclass will only get bigger the more we waste our money on unimportant things. 83% of the American population living in extreme poverty are children, elderly or unable to find work due to lack of education. This shows that people in poverty do not have as many educational opportunities, so it is difficult to get a well-paid job without a good education. According to a review conducted by John Hopkins, a recent study of 800 students showed that only 4 percent of low-income families achieved a college education, while 45 percent of affluent families did. Hopkins makes it clear that there is a huge difference between whether or not you get your education or have fewer advantages which are clearly shown in this study. Being richer gives you the security that your children can attend the university they want, being poor you can't afford to pay too much for university. This advantage takes us a long way back. The difference in opportunities for the rich and the poor is due to income inequality. Neither the rich class nor the poor benefit from income inequality. In 2013, studies showed that “medical expenses” lowered average income by 49% for the lowest group. This shows that medical problems can reduce income and perhaps even mean lack of health if the person cannot afford it. Which can also be a big problem, as hospital bills are not easy to pay and cause huge, deep debt for the lower class. Economists say Americans will continue to widen the income inequality gap; Inequality has been shown to depress our economic growth while leaving less for our society. In other words, this statement means that it doesn't matter how many jobs are taken away, or how much we try to