Turner 1

Is Income Inequality a Bad Thing?

When you hear the words “Income Inequality”, several things come to mind. You may

think of unfair money advantages, people dying in poverty, the rich getting richer or even

headlines about the lack of economic mobility but is all of it connected? All of these issues do

happen around the world, but the media loves blaming the wealthy saying that they do not care

about the world’s problems. People love thinking with their emotions and not with logic. So let

us use some logos and reasoning to discover if income inequality is truly a bad thing and who

deserves the blame for all of this. Affluent people are wrongly blamed for income inequality

because wealth is portrayed as evil, benefits of wealth are forgotten, and people do not want to

volunteer to help fix problems.

One of the first issues with income inequality is the idea that wealth is inherently evil. To

examine this, have to look back to where that idea came from. 1Timothy 6:10 says “For the love

of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith,

and pierced themselves through with many sorrows,” (Bible Gateway). Is this really saying that

money itself is evil though? If that were the case, then we would all be despicable villains in a

lair petting a white cat, because everyone wants more money. No. I think it is referring to greed

or jealousy. At this point, that is a heart issue and not a real problem of the “rich” community. I

mean, we all know someone who is poor and a huge jerk vs. someone who is very wealthy and

really nice. It is the same both ways. Money has nothing to do with it.

Now that we know money is not evil, what are true the benefits of wealth? First, we

know that when someone has wealth, it can always be donated. In fact, Business Insider posted

an article saying, “With a total combined donation amount of $106.8 billion, these 20 individuals
 Turner 2

are the top philanthropists in the world,”(Loundenback, Tanza). It is not hard to find wealthy

individuals who donate their money. Many famous actors, athletes, and song artists even create

their own charities. Additionally money can separate humans by their strengths and weaknesses.

Income inequality does not separate us by our human worth, but more commonly our skill level.

Human life should always be priceless. Wealthy people may simply be better at business and

building wealth. In Stossel’s video, he said, “total equality is just not possible…some people are

just better singers than others…the best athletes are just physically different,”(Stossel). That does

not seem so bad. For example, I would want a surgeon to be paid more than a janitor, because I

want someone who thought that medical school was not a waste of time. A reward for going to

medical school is a six figure salary. Income inequality is what motivates us to strive for more

success. It is not about how much you are worth; it is about how much your work is worth.

So if wealthy people aren’t to blame, then who is? Who should take the blame for people

being in poverty? Well, the answer is simple. It’s all of us. Let’s face it. Individuals do not often

want to take responsibility for helping others in need. We want to elect politicians and support

others founding their own charities, because we do not want to do it ourselves. We think that

donating a little money or voting for a certain politician will solve the problems of poverty

everywhere, but it will not. So how do we fix it? How do we fix poverty and help others

throughout our world? The answer again is simple, one small step at a time. Get your hands dirty

and start volunteering. People would be amazed to find that helping others is easier than they

think.

In Conclusion, we should not be blaming others for the problems that we all can be

working out together. We all need to dive in and do some of the dirty work ourselves. We can

always work out our problems better when we admit out wrongs and work them out together. I
 Turner 3

do know that there are situations where getting out of poverty can be difficult. That is where we

come in and that is the best part. Humans are meant to help others because we can always agree

that life is not easy. Total equality would never work because we must use our own talents to do

good work. While inequality sounds like a negative word, it must be recognized as vital because

we are all different.

 Turner 4

Work Cited

“Bible Gateway Passage: 1 Timothy 6:10 - English Standard Version.” Bible Gateway,

BibleGateway, 2015, www.biblegateway.com/passage/?

search=1+Timothy+6%3A10&version=ESV.

Martin, Emmie, and Tanza Loudenback. “The 20 Most Generous People in the World - Business

Insider.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 12 Oct. 2015,

www.businessinsider.com/most-generous-people-in-the-world-2015-10.

Stossel, John. “Inequality Myths.” YouTube, 30 Apr. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?

v=rrkHn5Fd6zM.