Where do you think the United States ranks compared to other developed countries when it comes to income inequality? Most people think we are in the top 5, after all we are the richest nation on the planet, right? Now, what would you say if I told you that America is last; Furthermore, the richest 400 people in America have more wealth than the poorest 150 million combined. The United States ranks 64th in the world in income inequality (that is, 63 countries are more equal than the United States) (Rogow 15). Although some people and organizations strongly believe that the government should not raise the minimum wage because it would cause the unemployment rate to rise, we must raise the minimum wage now to create more jobs, helping families across the country which sink deeper and deeper. go into debt and fix the broken tax code that takes so much money from the poor and so little from the rich. Many have long believed that wealthy Americans are the job creators. It is said that the more money they have, the more they can spend, and the more businesses they can start and hire employees. But this is a misconception, because it is the middle class that drives the American economy. The United States economy is 70% consumer economy to be exact (Rogow 16), but how much stuff does a multimillionaire consume? They may buy a few cars and a few houses, but the vast majority of the time, very wealthy people don't buy multiples of the same things that the average person would buy. Instead, they save and invest their huge sums of money, often this money leaves the country and ends up in offshore tax havens instead of circulating in the US economy. Nick Hanauer who was an early investor in amazon.com and a mu...... middle of paper ...... promised with multi-million dollar campaign contributions. America as a nation is richer than ever, but the middle class is in real danger of disappearing, and I fear that if nothing is done, millions and millions of Americans will live in poverty without having the possibility of getting out of it, and that is unacceptable. Works Cited Hassett, Kevin A. and Michael R. Strain. “Why we shouldn’t raise the minimum wage.” American Business Institute. American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, March 10, 2013. Web. April 30, 2014. .Rogow, Faith. “Discussion guide on INEQUALITY FOR ALL. » InequalityforAll.com. Ed. Stephanie Bleyer. Inequality for All, LLC., 2013. Web. April 30. 2014. .