Some might argue that income inequity is a natural consequence of capitalism; others may follow the principles of Social Darwinism and say that the rich are rich and the poor are poor due to natural selection and survival of the fittest in a competitive economy. These claims are nothing short of false, as income inequity has no place in a first-world country. A nation like America has the resources to eradicate income inequality, so there should be no excuse as to why the top percentile makes most of the wealth produced by the population. Gini Indexes have taught us that we can measure the severity of income inequity in a country through a numerical value. As we have already analyzed, the Gini Coefficient of the United States has increased steadily over the past few decades. Many reasons can explain the rising trend, such as increased globalization, the decline of traditional jobs, and a shift of the national income from labor towards capital (that is, less of the generated revenue goes to the workers and more goes to business owners and executives). But perhaps the most significant contributor to income inequality has been the rise of technology alongside growing corporate desires to increase profit.
Businesses have sought to improve their profits by limiting their expenses, replacing low-skilled workers with technology, allowing more to be done with less. As workers stay unskilled, they face not being able to bargain for a better wage, especially with decreasing unions. For the most part, income inequity has been the consequence of corporate greed, as executives and CEOs have gotten richer while the wages of workers have remained relatively the same. Many will ask: well, what is the solution to this? The best answer to this question is not a universal basic income or increased welfare benefits, as that would only put a bandage over the wound. The proper solution is to invest in human workers and develop their skills through education and training. By doing so, America would be able to increase individual wealth by improving the labor force. If everyone received the same teaching in terms of labor skills, everyone would be at the same minimum standard, paving the path for a more excellent distribution of wealth. Ultimately, income inequity and America's Gini index rise is an incredibly complicated issue that we can only solve through a unified effort against it. To get to a stage where income inequality no longer threatens our country, we must be willing to make changes to our current structure, as it isn't feasible for us to continue on this economic path since the burgeoning wealth gap will only continue to get bigger.