Wealth and Want in the United States essays

Wealth and Want in the United States essays In Democracy for the Few, Parenti illustrates how our society is primarily divided into two categories: the owning class and the working class. He explains those who are considered the owning class, are the extremely well-to-do people; those who are independently wealthy and mostly live on profits from their investments. This class consists of wealthy stockholders of large corporations, but also includes the struggling small business owners. Parenti compares these giant corporations and small businesses to elephants and squirrels, in order to give a better perspective as to who is better able to bully their way around the markets. The other class mentioned by Parenti is the working class, who primarily live on wages, salaries, and pensions. This class ranges widely from blue collar workers and includes anyone who is not independently wealthy. Parenti goes on to explain how seldom the hard work of someone in this class can ever make them rich. As a matter of fact, the ones who become wealthy or maintain their wealth are the stock holders of the giant corporations. The majority of stockholding owners who are collecting a substantially large income from the labor of others have yet to step foot into the corporations factories or offices. Parenti notes that a workers wages stand for a diminutive part of the capital produced by their labor. The profit, or unpaid portion, goes straight to the owner. Parenti reports that a private sector employee works maybe two hours for themselves(wages), and the remaining six or more hours they work are for the owners(profit after expenses). Parenti illustrates how when capitalists say theyre putting their money to work, what they mean is that they demand more labor from their employees, to produce larger quantities in a shorter amount of time at less pay. He also advises that the purpose of large corporati...