I chose to write a true summary due to the fact that this text was primarily written to provide facts and information on the wealth gap in America. The text lacks any obvious bias from the authors and therefore doesn’t need to be judged. The text can easily be understood by a brief summary that captures the main points along with a few key supportive ideas that go more in depth into the issue of the U.S. economy.
Collins and Yeskel inform their audience that the U.S. economy is helping the rich become wealthier, while allowing the poor to fall deeper into poverty. To do this, the authors examine the history of our country and the latest financial trends to explain that the wealth gap between wealthy and poor has been continuously growing since 1970. After they compare the wealthiest and the poorest populations in America, they also look at the difference in CEO’s salary versus employee pay and how this has created both a concentration of wealth but also a concentration of power in our society. Today, the ideas of consumerism and commercialism have trumped community.
To conclude, they appeal to readers by exploring the current efforts in diminishing this wealth gap and how, as ordinary Americans, we can fight for financial equality. The text begins as a broad issue and narrows down to the issue’s effects on the individual reader. Not only does the text analyze every aspect of the growing wealth gap, but it looks into the future of our country to predict possible issues and consequences of our current actions.
Ava Welch