The Effect of Income Inequality on SocietyIncome inequality is increasing and it is evident in most cities in the United States. There are individuals with six or seven figure incomes, and then there are individuals whose income is just enough to get by. The middle class is not as large as the upper and lower classes. It should be the other way around. There shouldn't be so many cities with very wealthy neighborhoods right next to poor, run-down neighborhoods with few middle-class households. Digging deeper, 47.6% of the money in the United States is owned by individuals who receive $98,200 or more (“Distribution of US family income,” 101). The middle class should be much more visible, with the upper and lower classes being a little rarer. The middle class can be restored to narrow the income gap and thus create a more perfect utopia. In reality, the income gap doesn’t stay where it is or shrink, it’s growing. It is for this reason that the middle class can grow in order to reduce the income gap. At the local level, inequality increased between 2007 and 2012, mainly because the poor got poorer, not because the rich got richer (“income inequality in the United States”). Some might ask: If this is only true at the local level, how is income inequality increasing nationally? To answer this question, the rich are getting richer at the national level while the poor are falling deeper into poverty at the local level (“income inequality in the United States”). According to Robert Lieberman, in 2009, the incomes of the richest 5% of families increased while the incomes of everyone else fell, on average. To counteract this, during the recession the richest got even richer. He also mentioned that the total income...... middle of paper ......ks CitéBarber, Elizabeth. “Income inequality: among US cities, the largest are more unequal (+ video).” The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor, February 20, 2014. Web. February 26, 2014. “Distribution of American Family Income.” » World Book 2008. 2008. Print.Lieberman, Robert C. “Why the Rich Get Richer: American Politics and the Second Gilded Age.” » Foreign Affairs Jan.-Feb. 2011: 154. Global issues in context. Internet. February 26, 2014. Maney, Kevin. “The Internet is killing the middle class.” Newsweek October 4, 2013: 1. GOLD General Reference Center. Internet. February 26, 2014. Ryan, Bill. “The Declining Middle Class and Its Jobs.” Business Tips from the New Hampshire Business Review. Np, August 23, 2013. Web. February 26, 2014. “Income Inequality in the United States: Gap Between the Growth of the Rich and the Poor – Study.” TurkishWeekly.net. The Journal of Turkish Weekly, February 24, 2014. Web. February 26. 2014.