Growing Gap Between Rich And Poor People example essay topic

Poor bashing and scapegoating poor people is behaviour that reveals a feature of society in Canada that is becoming more serious a problem every year. Canada has become a place where there are a few extraordinarily wealthy people and a growing number of very poor people, and each year the very few wealthy people control an increasing amount of the country's wealth. Poor people mean they are having very little with which to buy one's basic needs or deficient in something. There are many poor people in Canada; it causes many problems in this society, and can lead to economic, social and political problems. Without high unemployment rate, poor Canadians, especially women and children, are being denied their basic human rights to food, clothing and shelter. Because of this, Canadians condemn the government cuts to unemployment insurance programs and social assistance, and criticize the government's repeal of the Canada Assistance Program, which ensured national standards for education, health and social assistance.

Unemployment insurance cuts have resulted, in the last five years, in roughly a 50% drop in the proportion of unemployed workers receiving benefits, the lowering of benefit rates, reductions in the length of time for which benefits are paid, and increasingly restricted access to benefits for part-time workers. Unemployment results in a large amount of people who can not find a full time job, and people who have to rely on social welfare for their living. If Canada keeps a high unemployment rate, it will slower down the economic growth and the GDP. In 1984, the poorest 20% of Canadians owned 0.3% of the total private wealth of Canada (assets that can be used to generate income). The second 20% owned 2.4% of Canada's wealth. The third 20% owned 9.4%.

The fourth 20% owned 19.8%, and the richest 20% of Canadians owned 68.8% of Canada's wealth. Since the 1980's the situation has become worse. From 1981 to 1991, the wealthiest 20% of families in Canada increased their share of family income by $6.2 billion, at the expense of middle- and low-income families. In 1991, the average poor household was $1,029 further below the poverty line than it was in 1981 and the bottom 60% of Canadian families had a smaller share of market income than in 1973.

Through these figures, we know the distribution of income to poor people is much lower than for the rich, and if the Government of Canada still doesn! |t find a method to solve it, poor people will become poor and the rich people would become rich! The income inequality, a measure of how the income pie is divided among all members of society has increased dramatically in Canada. The widening income gap results from real earnings growth at the top of the income range and an absolute decline at the bottom. The income inequality has begun to expand more rapidly in Canada, not because the rich have grown richer in Canada, but because, as a group, the poor have become poorer. The expanding gap between rich and poor in Canada is further highlighted by a comparison with other countries. Labour income is the largest component of household income and, as might be expected, reveals many of the same patterns as household income over the past years.

It is important to measure this inequality because trends in household inequality are complicated by changes in family size and marriage behavior; those are result of poverty social change. In contrast, labour income inequality measures the disparity of income among individuals rather than families and is not directly affected by changes in household structure. Although household income may be a better indicator of general economic well-being, the incomes of poor individuals and households are declining. Canada has not ensured that its citizens enjoy the economic and social rights guaranteed by the constitution. The significant reductions in social assistance programs, the unavailability of affordable and appropriate housing and widespread discrimination with respect to housing, all of them have affected the living standard which means the level of material comfort and wealth enjoyed by a person or group.

In Canada, the minimum wage is not sufficient for a worker to have an adequate standard of living, and furthermore than 90% of single mothers under the age of 25 now live in poverty. That means the poor people in Canada can not have enough food, money or the other necessary resources for living. The family children may not possibly get a good education even though the government provides free education up to high school. So when compared rich people, the poor and the rich standard of living have experienced a huge gap. The life expectancies and general health of people in developed countries is patterns connected to a lack of poverty and unemployment. The widening of the gap between rich and poor leads to health problems linked to inequality.

Health inequalities in Canada have increasingly focused on the relationship of the individual to society which is how people are affected by their social position; by wealth and poverty; by job insecurity and unemployment; by education; by social mobility; on the importance of social networks; on family disruption; on stress at work and the social organization of work... In Canada we seem to have a perfect health care system, but upon closer inspection, the people probably cannot afford the medicine after they see doctor. If the government can provide medicine for the poor people, -may be free or at lower price- it would help poor people with their health. For the solution of social policies, the government has to be concerned with the growing gap between rich and poor people, so people with unacceptably high levels of extreme poverty will be persuaded that with political will and more financial resources, progress can be achieved and hope restored. Also, criticisms must be aimed at cuts to or tightened eligibility rules for services for people with disabilities; the fact that thousands of refugees in Canada cannot be given permanent resident status and cannot be reunited with their families before a period of five years; and that 20% of Canadian adults are functionally illiterate, while tuition fees for university education have dramatically increased. This may be more of a problem with our quality of education, but it is true that rich people can afford to send their kids to private schools.

The growing inequality is fundamentally tied to Canada; inequality between rich and poor has continued to grow. This is why income inequality is at its largest variance since any point in the last generation. Additionally, when the government is in retreat as they have been for the last decade, this bad dynamic gets even worse. So the government has created policies which promise the people that the best solution to inequality is that we can simply grow our way out of poverty, that a booming economy as measured through improvements being spread throughout the economy will make poverty shrink. To narrow inequality, policies are needed that will mould the market to improve incomes at the bottom and promote equality throughout the market. It is time for living wage improvements to the minimum wage to significant put people's income above the poverty line.

It is time for the markets to deliver more jobs and especially more full time jobs. Additionally, in light of the failures in the market, it is time for proactive government that put equality issues front and centre. Also, the Government of Canada should report to Canadians on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights every five years with regards to the progress it is making to ensure that citizens have the right to work and form labour unions, to have adequate living conditions and to achieve the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health. Also in reducing inequality while promoting growth, the report should suggest that national authorities need to give more attention to human development, poverty reduction, and employment policies, especially for women; expand access to land and credit; boost investment in and access to education and health; and encourage development of that informal sector of the economy that often does business on the street and in homes. The need for low-income housing to be treated as!

SSa national emergency!" , for national standards for welfare, for reform of the employment insurance program so more workers are covered, and for more money from all levels of government to combat poverty among women and children. Unemployment can result in poverty, and poverty can determine the type of housing a family has; education levels may limit the earnings of individuals; early childhood development may limit a person's educational opportunities. Government of Canada should improve social policies that absolute material living standards, health care or increase unemployment fund. The government has to do more work to reduce the growing gap between the rich and poor people, because of poor people don! |t have depended on government, they would have basic income and property, so Canada will prosperous and strong.