Privileges of Wealth

All of the social classes have different privileges which others higher and lower don't have, yet it seems the privileges of the wealthy make life much easier than those of middle and lower class. With wealth comes the ability to make money, which speaks through the saying "It takes money to make money." In our REAL game of Monopoly, the wealthy had the money to buy up property to then make it all back through rent. People with less money couldn't afford the expensive properties, even when they were lucky enough to land on them, and certainly couldn't make houses/hotels if they managed to "acquire" a monopoly. In real life, the rich can buy property for prices only they can afford and become real-estate moguls.

The rich also have the privilege to not have to worry about where their children will grow up (mobility)/schooling. They can choose to live in the safest, cleanest neighborhoods, unlike the poor who tend to be forced to live in areas either in the middle of nowhere or in less desirable locations with others of the same class. Ehrenreich experienced this in her account "Nickle'd and Dime'd," as her choices of places to live were very limited by her income. Rather than being confined to the public school system, the wealthy can pay large sums of money to send their kids to private school to give them the best educations to get high-paying jobs which will keep the families rich.

Finally, with wealth, one can run his own business which offers more freedom than the typical 9-5 shift. As the owner of a corporation, far more time is spent on the start-up of the company than running it. There are people in high places who take care of managing all aspects of the company, so unless a company-crippling problem arises, the owner can sit at home, slowly stroking the arm of his red velvet throne-chair for hours on end. In the People Like US video, the obnoxious snooty rich guy with the comb over was excreting his high-pitched screeching sound in the direction of the cameraman's face during the middle of the day. Why wasn't he working? The cameraman had the right idea as he was on the job. The SRG either owns a few companies, which is how he could afford to not be working for the interview, or is unemployed. With great wealth comes little responsibility. Any responsible individual knows that having a comb over is a sure-fire way to get yourself made fun of both amongst your peers and teens in Sociology classes.

It would be difficult to fix these class problems and still keep the idea of the American Dream. You try to limit the wealth and the people cry "dictator." You try to redistribute the wealth of the absurdly wealthy and the people cry "communist." We don't live in a very egalitarian society anymore, as if you are born in a certain class, everything you learn in and out of school prepares you to survive in that same class. The only way I can think of to possibly help with this is making college and universities less expensive. I don't understand how Universities are so cheap in Europe, how my German friend can get a PHD in Halle for the same cost as 1 year at private college here. However they do it, the U.S. should follow suit, because we're limiting our progression as a society by only having those with money getting terciary education.