Inequality/College/The American Dream I

Inequality, College, and the American Dream
The American dream as a concept was introduced to give an idea of the desired American experience for all American regardless of age, gender, and social status. However, the past few decades have only resulted in the expansion of the rift between the elite class and the poor people. In support for this, Holly Sklar in his short essay Occupy College and Tamara Draut in his The Growing Gap Between the Rich and the Rest of us argue that the American dream if farther away than it was many years ago.
Both Sklar and Draut seem to communicate that the status of inequality in the US has deteriorated dramatically. Sklar (1) says that since 2000, America’s elite group has gained 76 more members” while ordinary households, especially in blacks’ estates have sunken more into poverty and lost income. The mechanism through which this has happened is well described in Draut (22) where he compares his parent’s financial strengths when he was growing up, and that of today’s generation. Unfortunately for today’s generation, its workers since 2000s have not only been locked out of work but also incurred “college tuition [that has…] nearly tripled since [he] graduated in 1993.” This is the same period that the Forbes 400 list has featured new members whose net value exceeds “gross domestic product of Spain or Canada, the world’s eighth- and ninth-largest economies” (Sklar 2).
What these authors try to say is that the situation for the poor has deteriorated, as caused by a debt-for-diploma system that leaves students with huge loans, capitalists “multinational corporations and an ever-expanding trove of rich and politically connected individuals,” and governmental systems included (Draut 23).

A perfect example of how corporations and government have contributed to this inequality is given by Draut (23) who says that banks have the power to borrow finances at rates below 1 percent yet students are charged nearly 7 percent. On this recommends that the government should reduce the rates of student loans to almost nothing and raise that of banks and corporations. In my opinion, this will significantly reduce inequality in America since the burden on the student will lessen. Also important, the government should capitalize on its infrastructures to increase jobs to capacitate graduates employability and ability to pay the loan.
In brief, both Draut and Sklar intend to sensitize their audience on the problem of growing inequality in the US. For Draut, increasing employment and reducing rates for a student loan is a valid solution. Sklar in his view recommends Robin Hood tactic of taxing corporations and rich class more than the poor. In my opinion, using these three strategies will significantly reduce inequality and push the growth trend upward towards the American dream.
Works Cited
Draut, T. “Occupy College.” Nation. 293.20 (2011): 22-23. Print.
Sklar, Holly. “Growing Gulf between Rich and the Rest of US.” Dissidentvoice.Org, 2005, http://dissidentvoice.org/Oct05/Sklar1005.htm. Accessed 3 Nov 2018.