Blog Post #8 - Does Global Inequality Affect America?

Does global inequality affect America?  If so, how?  And why should we care?  First of all, global inequality does affect America.  As one of the most powerful countries today, American has a lot of responsibility on helping minimize global inequality.  Many of the wars we have been fighting recently have been described as been “wars for freedom” or “wars for democracy.”  That is one of the ways America takes responsibility on helping other countries fight against inequality.  But how does that affect us?  Well, a simple answer would be:  it affects our pockets.  Every war fought by this country is paid by us tax payers.  That is direct affect of global inequality in each individual.  It also affects us socially.  One of the reasons America has such a great reputation and the land of the free is because our government and political system promotes equality.  Many people may say that America is not equal (and in many points it isn’t) but compared to many other countries (many of which have fought America in some war) we have a great system of equality.  

It also affects us economically, but in other ways.  The money that we spend helping other countries with their inequality problems could well be spent to feed out poor, shelter our homeless and educate our children.  I am not by any means saying that helping other nations is wrong.  As I pointed out in the beginning, as one of the most popular and successful nations today, we are also a symbol of freedom and we should take responsibility into helping our fellow nations.  I am however, stating that many countries may be satisfied with their situation, and sometimes America may come across as getting into unnecessary problems.

Global inequality also affects us politically.  The reason why many people choose to come to this country illegally is because they know that the opportunities in their countries are not equal to the opportunities here.  That affects us, because it giver politicians excuses to explain their ignorance.  For example, immigrants take jobs that many Americans are not qualified to do, or just don’t want to do.  Many politicians take advantage of that and say that immigrants “steal” jobs, when there is no such thing.

With the popularity of internet and social networking, global inequality affects us in personal level.  As humans, we have empathy towards one another, and seeing other country’s peoples suffer with inequality hurts us.  Global inequality does affect America, not only in an economic level, but also in a personal level.  

Copyright Disclaimer:  The pictures posted do not belong to me.