The Social Ladder

I am not finding it surprising that most of these students, here, are very well-educated and competitive. 5000 dollars for these students is worth only a couple hundred dollars. Yearly, their families are able to afford to send them to various educational institutions. Their parents are doctors, software engineers, economists, and real estate brokers thus they receive a quality education as compared to the average student in my school district, who tend to come from low-income families. Moreover this good education probably implies greater wealth, in the long run. 

In contrast, for a working-class family with very little financial resources, the value of $5000 greatly increases and it is more difficult for them to climb the ladder of success. This is why we have an income gap, and capitalism is a major issue in the USA.

TA, "Ted" Talks about discrimination :)

People with minimal financial resources, coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, are economically discriminated against, holding everything else equal. Did you know that when going to a car dealership a person that is disabled is essentially asked for more money? The same goes with African-Americans and gay couples. The data is clearly laid out in my course book, The Why Axis. There is a correlation and causation in the data - economic discrimination. 

Sellers proceed with an incentive to make money and they are aware that there is a knowledge gap between a potentially disabled person as opposed to a person without disabilities. Thus they are easily gullible so raising the price is not an issue. A disabled person's willingness to buy a product is way higher.

This was the point I was trying to get across during our class-discussion. The Teacher's Assistant picked up my point instantaneously but some of the students did not, which made me feel somewhat bad. When a seller charges an African American more, who might potentially have limited financial resources, this adds to economic and social inequality. When a banker charges more interest on a student who is struggling to make financial ends meet, this adds to capitalism. Maybe that loan could have been used for college - this is a form of economic discrimination (not animus-based). 

With excessive financial and academic resources, no wonder, they are competitive. There was a sudden argument made against my claim - which I personally loved. Though the arguer did not mention it, his reasoning implied that it is ethical to take the money from the poor and add to the rich. After I hit the student with a sudden counterargument, he laughed hesitantly. It was the same guy who did not help me in my Economics homework yesterday. 

There is a large difference in the competitive nature, and knowledge gap among students from my school and the UChicago Summer Immersion Program. When selected as one of the 4 students to represent all of WCCUSD students, from over thirty-thousand students, oh boy did I feel special! I did not realize that there is way more competition out there, with one of the factors being luck. 

Please, also, consider that success is not an individual merit! When luck (money) meets opportunity, it implies better education, more intelligence, higher-paying jobs, and the list continues. 

If there is anything new I have picked up from this Economics course, it is that, money makes the world go round and round. Our economy increases because there is, currently, a very little unemployment gap, but also a lot of capitalism.

My soccer and studying friend!

There is a great increase in investment towards the financially underserved garments of the country to fight economic inequality, but it is not enough. Even though out standard of living and prices of goods has increased, the minimum wage barely has. 

After today's lesson, I have come to realize how the financially "unlucky" people, tend to be discriminated against simply because a buyer might think that they are uneducated. As filthy as it sounds, it is a form of economic discrimination and it, seemingly, is continuing through our country. 

I want to end the blog in a positive note so I will say that the soccer game was very fun. :)