Government 1B: Lesson 115 Essay- “(1) Is ‘income inequality a problem, in your opinion? Why or why not? (2) What are the major assumptions identified at the beginning of the lesson on discrimination that most people make about discrimination? Is there a good reason to doubt these assumptions?”

In my opinion income inequality is not a problem. It is not a problem because people make what they CHOOSE to make. No one is forcing a Wal-Mart employee to work at Wal-Mart at low wages. If he does not like how much he is being made he can try to negotiate with his current employer or try to negotiate with a new one to get better pay. There is no discrimination, just free negotiating, between the employer and the employee as to how much he should be paid.

Here are the assumptions most people make about discrimination: discrimination causes poverty, group characteristics are stereotypes, differences in group incomes are cause by discrimination, and political action is necessary for oppressed groups to advance economically. First off, people choose to be poor. They could have chosen to work harder and/or get a better job. Differences in group incomes are caused by choice not discrimination. An entire ethnic group may choose to be lazy and that is why they will make less. All they have to do is work harder or get a better job. Stereotypes are just true statements about certain groups. Maybe if most of the group wasn’t living off welfare then they wouldn’t be called lazy. The truth hurts, but the truth is not discrimination. People just need to choose to work harder or do better work then there will be no income gap.