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Ben 4/29/14
Writing and Critical Inquiry
Lisa Arrastia
TOT Final Revision

October 29
th
2012 was when super storm Sandy hit my hometown of Oceanside
New York. Everyone was in panic and disarray. No one knew what the severity of the
hurricane was going to be. People didnt know if they were going to lose their cars, their
house or even their entire life, as they knew it. It was a time of severe crisis especially for
my father. My fathers apartment is directly next to the water. He lost everything, his car
his home and all of his possessions. He didnt know what to do. That was the first time I
have ever seen my father breakdown. I knew that with his current job he was not going to
be able to pay for all of the damage. He was a lost man. I had to drive him around for a
week and a half after the storm. Going to various places looking for rental houses, car
dealerships and gas lines that were less than 2 hour waits. It was complete chaos because
not only did this happen to my father, but to millions of others as well. Finally after two
weeks without electricity the madness came to an end. The gas lines became normal and
the streetlights began to work again, but the one thing that wasnt normal yet was my
father. We both knew we had a lot of work ahead of us. It ended up taking my Dad eight
months after the storm hit to get back into his original apartment. In my eyes that is
insane and he wasnt the only one.
Over 200 Long Island families were still displaced one year after from when the
storm hit.
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Also, one year after the storm, only 5.2 billion dollars in aid was given out

1
-Blau, Reuven. " Hurricane Sandy, one year later: More than 200 city storm survivors are still without a
home." The Daily News, October 26, 2013. http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/hurricane-
sandy/hurricane-sandy-year-displaced-families-article-1.1493267 (accessed April 2, 2014).

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compared to the 60 billion dollars that were promised.
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People, like my father, did not
receive the money that they needed to put their lives back together. The United States is a
country that has severe income disparity between the rich and the poor. The government
does not plan on rectifying this crucial problem. The governments concerns are clearly
with the rich minority instead of the poor majority. In America today there is no limit of
how much money the rich can make.
This all could have been avoided if Americas wealth was distributed more evenly
throughout the middle and lower classes. If the wealth in America were more equal then
people would have been able to pay for some of the damages that happened because of
the storm. They would have been able to get their lives back on track in an accelerated
amount of time. America as a country and a society would be better off if the wealth were
distributed more equally within the country.
In America today the richest 0.01 percent of America holds 40 percent of the
wealth. Just think about that for one second. One tenth of a percent of 300 million people
hold 40 percent of all of the wealth within America.
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The average income of these people
is about 32 million dollars per year.
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Most Americans will never make, what these
people make in one year, if they worked for their entire lives. In todays society if you are
in the lower or middle classes you do not stand a chance. If you are a day-to-day blue-

2
Dan, Friedman. The Daily News, Sandy victims see almost none of promised $60 billion in aid a year
after storm.http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/hurricane-sandy/sandy-vics-60-billion-aid-article-
1.1499613

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Derek, Thompson. The Atlantic, "How You, I, and Everyone Got the Top 1 Percent All Wrong." Last
modified March 30, 2014. Accessed April 11, 2014.
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/03/how-you-i-and-everyone-got-the-top-1-percent-all-
wrong/359862/.

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Ibid

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collar worker, how are you supposed to survive off the pocket change you are making?
These middle class people also protect the rich from the poor. They are often fireman and
police officers that keep the impoverished people in check so that rich can carry on
stacking there millions. The bottom 80 percent of America has only 7 percent of the
wealth.
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Keeping the vast majority in poverty only allows the rich to gain more money
and power. While the prices of every product in America rises, the income of each poor
does not. The poor are forced to buy cheap items, which are often the items produced by
the rich and their companies. This is the world we live in today.
The rich are the rulers of society. They control everything if you truly think about
it. The rich control politics, big corporations, and the media. Those are the three-
singlehandedly biggest ideals within America and the poor have very little influence
within any of them. Do you believe this economic system is fair? It is fair that a CEO of a
fortune 500 company makes 380 times more then an average paid worker within their
own company.
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Im not talking about the lowest paid employee; Im talking about an
average worker within his or her own company. If thats not mind blowing I dont know
what is.
America was not always this way. Actually from the 1940s until the 1960s the
gap between rich and poor was not as wide as it is now.
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United States income inequality
has been increasing steadily since the 1970s and has now reached levels not seen since

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Zaid, Jiliani. Think Progress, "How Unequal We Are: The Top 5 Facts You Should Know About The
Wealthiest One Percent Of Americans." Last modified October 03, 2011. Accessed April 2, 2014.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/10/03/334156/top-five-wealthiest-one-percent/.
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- Jennifer, Liberto. CNN Money, "CEO pay is 380 times average worker's." Last modified April 19, 2012.
Accessed April 2, 2014. http://money.cnn.com/2012/04/19/news/economy/ceo-pay/index.htm.

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Drew Desilver. Fact Tank, "U.S. income inequality, on rise for decades, is now highest since 1928." Last
modified December 5, 2013. Accessed April 2, 2014. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/12/05/u-
s-income-inequality-on-rise-for-decades-is-now-highest-since-1928/.
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the roaring 20s.
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It only seems to be getting worse. How can a child born into a family
engulfed in poverty ever succeed? That child has so many barriers in front of them and it
is nearly impossible to break them all down. Im not asking for a complete turn around
into a so-called communist society because that would be ridiculous and impractical. All
I am asking for is a change. For example, the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, makes 378
million dollars per year. The average worker within his company makes $60,400 per
year. It would take the salaries of 6,258 workers within apple combined to equal up to
what Tim cook makes in one year.
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Is this salary reasonable? Does Tim cook really work
that much harder than all of his employees that he deserves this astronomical salary? If
the 0.01 percent gave up half of their wealth and distributed it to the working class then
the country would be better off. The poor and working classes would be able to protect
themselves financially. Maybe if this occurred then my father would have been able to
get back into his apartment in half the time that he was. Maybe America as a society
needs to start thinking differently.
Maybe if America started believing that money isnt everything than it could be a
better place. What if the American government helped the people truly in need? The
middle class needs support from the government. The middle class needs direct
assistance when the world gives them a bad draw. They need to be provided with the
basic natural resources to survive such as, food, shelter, water, and gasoline. For
example, during hurricane Sandy if the government provided the right amount of gas that

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Ibid.

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CNN Money. "Fortune 50 CEO pay vs. our salaries." .
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2012/ceo-pay-ratios/ (accessed April
29, 2014).

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Long Island needed to be able to sustain itself then the chaos would have been
diminished. The government needs to work on strengthening the middle class in order to
satisfy the majority of the people and fix the income disparity. If America started to
believe in the ideals stated by economist Karl Polanyi maybe the country wouldnt be in
such disparity. Crucial point. Land, labor, and money are essential for elements of
industry but labor, land, and money are obviously not commodities Labor is just
another name for human activity, which goes with life itself Land is only another word
for nature, which is not produced by man; actual money is merely a token of purchasing
power, which is not produced at all The commodity description of labor, land, and
money is entirely fictitious.
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The actual appearance of money doesnt mean anything.
It only means something because society says it does. Karl Polanyi argues that money is a
fictitious commodity. Money is just a piece of paper, which within todays society
defines whether or not you are successful. What if the value that money holds is
fictitious? What would the world really be like? Would there be wars and fights?
Would society stop idolizing material items? Would society become the kind where
people are nice to each other out of the pureness of their hearts rather than
expecting a reward for their actions? I wonder if money is the cause of war, fights,
and idolizing material items rather than family and life. I wonder if Karl Polanyi is
correct. I wonder if society could truly exist without money. Deep down inside of
me, I know that because of the world in which we live today, it could not.

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Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation, (Boston MA: 1944)
https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/ipe/polanyi.htm (accessed April 2, 2014), chap. 6.