When I saw these statistics, I was somewhat surprised and thoroughly disturbed, but more than anything, I wanted to find out how this happened-and all signs point to our tax system. When you look at the wealth gap in terms of race, an even more shocking disparity emerges.Īccording to the 2016 US survey of consumer finances, the typical white household has 10 times as much wealth as the typical black household, with white families having a median net worth of $171,000 compared to black families with just $17,000. He also wants to know who specifically is benefitting from them. So far, we’ve only talked about the wealth gap between the rich and poor, but Cole isn’t only concerned about where his tax dollars are going. The pandemic is a perfect example of that, as well as a display of how the government can misuse our tax dollars and fumble an opportunity to give small businesses much-needed aid. is steadily rising, with the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. I say all this to illustrate that wealth inequality in the U.S. Instead, they left loopholes for big businesses to swoop in on that money, which is of course backed by us, the taxpayers. Even if this was the result of businesses being shady and applying for loans they shouldn’t have, at the end of the day, it’s the government’s responsibility to make sure they are actually giving the small business loans to small businesses. Sadly, this is just one example of government policy backed by taxpayer money completely failing and not doing what it’s supposed to do to protect the little guy. I don’t know about you, but when I think of a small business, I don’t think of a publicly-traded company, a basketball team, or a chain like Shake Shack with 275 locations. While those three agreed to return the money after public outcry, many big companies didn’t return it even as the funding for the program ran out, leaving small businesses across America with nothing. Massive chains like Shake Shack, Ruth’s Chris, and even the Los Angeles Lakers took loans meant for small businesses.

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