Almost one hundred years ago, jazz music filled the streets, flappers smoked outdoors while cars rolled through the streets. It's the roaring twenties. A moment of joy and an ever-growing culture. Compared to today's culture of technology and millennials, it seems we have changed drastically from simpler times. However, this is far from the truth. Even though we no longer have jazz music that enthralls young people or flappers, many of the fundamental problems of the 1920s have not changed. Problems like economic inequality are just as bad as they were in the 1920s and with immigration. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The 1920s saw a rise in worldly culture and along with that came a wealth gap. According to research conducted by Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, both economists, the top 0.1% shared about 23%-24% of the nation's wealth in the 1920s. In 2013, the richest 0.1% shared about 22% of the national wealth. This is only a 1% difference. Nearly a century has passed and yet America still grapples with economic inequality. Although research also shows that the gap decreased during the 1930s and continued to decline until the late 1970s, in just thirty years it increased to the extreme level it was at in the 1920s. Another problem with the current economic situation is that the so-called “middle rich” are moving away from the 1%. The middle rich are the people who are not rich enough to be part of the 1%. Further research by the same people reveals that the amount of wealth shared by the average rich has dropped to 35%, in the 1920s the rate dropped to 33%. While this is still a large amount of money, the average rich comprise many more people as they are considered the top 10% to 1%. America has had years to solve the economic crisis of inequality, but there has been no change. Although there were changes between the 1920s and the present day, they appear to be disappearing. Immigration has been a difficult issue to address for decades. The 1920s saw an increase in immigration. The people came from all different cultures, but mostly from Southern and Eastern Europe. However, many Americans have not taken immigration well. Ideas such as “Americanization” and “nativism” became stronger ideals promoted by many Americans. They wanted to impose ideal American lifestyles on immigrants. In today's society, immigration is a hot topic. The idea of Americanization is now abandoned and now deportation is what the people want. This problem worsened to the point that the government had to establish immigration laws. Something that had rarely been used in the 1920s. Today the government is fighting for stricter immigration laws. While many people protest the idea of deportation, which is very different from how things were in the 1920s, the fact that there are still debates about the same issues reveals how much things have changed. The 1920s are considered history, but the problems that plagued America are still impacting the twenty-first century. It's amazing that issues like the wealth gap and immigration are still big problems today. No matter how much society changes, the root problems won't change much. Changing these issues may seem like a tall order if nothing has been done since the 1920s, but this generation could be the ones to truly change the important issues.
tags