Thomas Shapiro

With Toxic Inequality, Thomas M. Shapiro uses narrative and statistics to great effect, describing the harrowing experience of being a person who is not wealthy in today’s America. With many of the families, they do not desire long-term assistance. They have pride in their capacities to work, but if your job only pays minimum wage and has no benefits whatsoever, the smallest setback can totally destroy your entire wealth base. Shapiro argues that this is a basis of many of the issues in America, and I cannot help but agree. This also comes in line with the disappearing Middle Class in the United States. Back in the 1970s, the largest employer was General Motors. They offered benefits and great pay. Now the largest employer is Wal-Mart, and we know what they offer to their employees.

Most of the families that have these issues are families of color. People that are Black or Latino are disproportionately well represented in such situations. It does not help that there is a massive snowball effect in place as well. People may chide others for even taking a subprime loan or some other such ‘deal’ but if that is your only offer and your credit score is fantastic that might be your ticket out of a slum or other situation. Being in a different area also allows you to attend a better school and attain the benefits of a well-supplied district. So I can’t really blame someone for taking advantage of such a thing. So for instance, if you are Black and have a great resume, you might receive discrimination just from your name alone.

In any case, this book was really tragic and put me in a melancholy mood. It makes me wonder if we should just start over with this whole America thing, though I doubt that it would work. As long as the concept of property has existed, there has been inequality between us. That isn’t going to go away any time soon. Luckily for me, Shapiro offers some solutions, though to the wealthy it might be something that is hard to take. It mostly has to do with offering better jobs that have benefits and such. If you are Wal-Mart, you won’t do that, since you are a terrible place. The same thing goes for all of the giant corporations nowadays.… (meer)

When I was young, I believed America was a nation that provided equal opportunities for all. It was part of our national identity as a land of freedom, equality, and opportunity—a nation in which anyone could make something of themselves regardless of their status at birth. That may still be the dream, but it's certainly not the reality. Wealth provides opportunities, and poverty denies them, including the opportunity to gain wealth. Using interview data, Toxic Inequality shows how public policies favor a society in which wealth and the lack thereof passes from one generation to the next.… (meer)