To Have Or Have Not :: essays research papers

To Have and Have Not Michael Lind Michael Lind wrote the article To Have and Have not about the ever-increasing gap between the rich and the poor. He comments with heart and knowledge on the fact that the prosperous are increasing their wealth by taking from the poor. It sounds like and basically is the story of Robin Hood. He writes about the amount of power the wealthy have, segregated work places, the crooked political system, and tax reforms. But what amazes me the most is that he too is part of the overclass. This first hand knowledge of the system gives Lind such a strong base for his argument, and allows the reader to trust his words that much more. Over the last several years in the United States it has become more and more evident that the gap between the rich and the poor is growing. Not only is the gap growing, but the government is doing very little to stop it. Slowly the poor are being shifted away from the center of wealth and being replaced by the already wealthy. It's a shame how a few people with large cheque books can run the most powerful country in the world, and yet the general public are being redirected to think this problem is a minimal and insignificant issue. The truth is that economic and social inequalities have been growing in the United States at an alarming pace. The inequalities exist because the wealthy want to have more, and the power to obtain more; To do so people must give up their wealth and thus cause the economic gap. Not only is the United States segregated based on the upper class and lower class, it seems that prejudice is also appearing in a hidden manner. Take for example an executive building. You'll notice that everyone working there looks the same. Of course their opinions, value systems, and beliefs may differ, however they are almost always white and mainline protestant. This new and still growing oligarchy is about 20 percent of the population and is evenly spread across every state. What is even more amazing about the American oligarchy is that they pride themselves solely on their individual merit. To them its not because they were born into upper class, nor that they had the opportunity to get an education, but merle on their own IQ, virtue, and genius. Lind uses a great example of this when he says,