The income and wealth gap continues to grow at a faster and faster rate because there is ever more power to affect policy provided to those that have such substantial incomes.
Education and Healthcare
There are other less direct ways in which the income gap is self-perpetuating, as well, establishing a system that purports to be meritocratic -- based on merit, where everyone has an equal chance to succeed based on their own skills and efforts -- but that in reality is stacked in favor of those already endowed with financial success (the Economist, 2006). Access to education is heavily mediated by the ability to pay for this education, and this is true at all levels, from elementary school through to undergraduate and graduate schools; wealthy parents can afford to hire tutors for their children, to pay high fees for prestigious private schools that confer advantages in higher education and in the job market (the Economist, 2006; NY Times, 2010). While the system is designed to make it appear that everyone is succeeding on their merits, when the wealthy have vastly increased opportunities for developing their skills and knowledge then native ability and work ethic begin to matter far less. With only 3% of people in top colleges from the poorest quarter of the nation, it is clear that the meritocracy is broken (the Economist, 2006).
Healthcare is also an issue that divides the wealthy from those with lower levels of financial resources, and that contributes to the self-perpetuating nature of the income inequality in the United States (NY Times, 2010). Because there is no national healthcare system except for the elderly and certain other special demographics (and even then the system is far from complete in terms of the coverage it provides), individuals must meet healthcare expenses on their own. As noted above, wages have remained flat for most Americans...
This means that those in lower income brackets are paying ever larger proportions of their income to healthcare, leaving even less money at the end of the day for saving, investment, or even covering day-to-day expenses. In this way, the system is increasingly stacked against lower earners in a way that makes it very difficult to build financial wealth and potentially establish businesses or jobs with a higher income level.
Conclusion
The income gap in the United States is enormous and still growing. The extreme imbalance of this self-perpetuating gap cannot be sustained indefinitely, however, and eventually the system will undergo a radical change. Whether this happens through planning and policy or a more disastrous collapse depends on the foresight of the wealthy.
References
Berman, J. (2011). U.S. Income Inequality Higher Than Roman Empire's Levels. Accessed 5 March 2012. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/19/us-income-inequality-ancient-rome-levels_n_1158926.html
Domhoff, G. (2012). Wealth, income, and power. Accessed 5 March 2012. http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html
Economist. (2006). Inequality and the American Dream. Accessed 5 March 2012. http://www.economist.com/node/7059155
Gilson, D. & Perot, C. (2011). it's the inequality, stupid. Accessed 5 March 2012. http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/income-inequality-in-america-chart-graph
NY Times. (2010). College, jobs, and inequality. Accessed 5 March 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/14/opinion/14tue1.html?_r=1
