Rand Paul Says Income Inequality is Worse in Cities with Democratic Mayors- Tampa Bay Times

Rand Paul says income inequality is worse in cities with democratic mayors

Republican Senator Rand Paul recently spoke out to the public asserting the statement that cities with Democratic mayors have a higher rate of income inequality. To pluck out the validity of Paul's statement, a reporter from the Tampa Bay Times did some digging. The top ten cities with the highest income inequality were juxtaposed with the bottom ten cities. Facts did show that Paul's statement had truth. Nine out of the top ten were Democratic and ten out of the bottom ten were Republican.

It seems as though there is nothing more to discuss now that we know Democratic mayors spawn income inequality. Wrong. I believe that Paul is taking a small fact and embellishing it. When we look at the details, we see that, in reality, mayors aren't all-powerful leaders in local government. Of course the mayors have an important role but not as important as Paul is trying to convey.

Two, income inequality is more than just local leadership. Inequality results from population size, geographic size, and location. It was found by the writer that Paul's statement only holds true in cities, not metropolitan areas. In fact, the results are quite the opposite. Nine out of the ten mayors who govern the most equal metropolitan areas are Democratic.

Obviously, Paul's statement has some truth but I believe it's missing crucial details. I think the article was written well and realistically dissects Paul's assertion. It seems pretty at first, but once we delve deeper into the facts, flaws are revealed in the point Paul is trying to convey.

A Look at Income Inequality, Hour by Hour- The Wall Street Journal

A look at income inequality

Income inequality has been an ever increasing problem lately in the United States. Theorists say the difference in income would not be so bad if the gap would stop increasing. Unfortunately however, data shows that the lower 70th percentile's wages are decreasing fairly rapidly and the upper 30th percentile's wages, though gradual, are increasing.

The numbers show that the highest earners in the US make, on average, 52 dollars an hour and that number is rising 0.2% annually. On the lower end, the average wage is around 8 dollars an hour and that number is decreasing 0.75% annually. As the data is analyzed the primary goal to be completed is to understand and discern why this all is happening.

When we look at the facts, inflation has been down lately but so has the nation's wages. Even the slightest bit of inflation will severely affect many lesser earning workers because their income is so low and getting lower. When I first read the article and analyzed the graphs, my first impression was quite surprised. I didn't realize how different and unequal the nation's incomes are. One thing I had trouble understanding was that inflation was low but still wages were low as well. I figured that wages would be higher since the value of the dollar is higher. However, after I did some outside research I found that some theorists say that the reason the wages are lower is because the value of the dollar is higher, meaning the workers do not need to be paid as much. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this theory, as it does sound slightly invalid, but of course, nothing is for sure and economists are scrambling and arguing over the causes of the income inequality.