Income inequality is a pressing matter presently in the U.S. Every day, we are faced with the fact that the top 20 percent of the wealthiest Americans hold more than half of the country’s capital, while the rest is divided among the middle class and the working poor, the remaining 80 percent of the population.

Robert Reich, the former secretary of labor, says that the current struggle of low-wage workers across America echoes the civil rights struggle of the 1960s, the time when African-Americans were fighting for their right to vote.

In a Salon article, Reich discusses a rather large company’s employees' movement to try and receive fair wages. Unfortunately, the attempt ended up being struck down by its executives.

Walmart, America’s largest employer, which employs 1.4 million workers, refuses to give its employees an income that they can live on. The majority of its employees earn less than $25,000 per year, which is not livable by any means in today’s economy.

While this is just one example of unfair distribution of wealth, it is among the most controversial since Walmart is such a large, well-known company.

In reality, there is no reason for the top 20 percent to hold such a large amount of America’s wealth. The distribution should not be as skewed as it is.

The solution to this issue is simple. The top 20 percent should be taxed at a higher rate than the working poor and the middle class.

Putting this into perspective, the people with the greatest amount of money in this country would not be able to spend their life’s earnings, so imposing a tax increase on their lavish paychecks would not hurt them in the slightest.

There have been alternatives mentioned in regards to creating a living wage for those Americans who are barely getting by, but none are able to be agreed upon.

Bernie Sanders, the U.S. senator from Vermont running for president, has suggested increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour. By making this change, the economy will be given the opportunity to flourish like it has in past years due to stimulation from the middle class.

With this concept in mind, whoever is elected as the next president should carefully consider his or her next steps when it comes to repairing the country’s extremely broken economy.

We are living in a time when the rich are running the country and everything financially seems to fall in their favor.

The reality of America’s income inequality is especially frustrating for those who work rough, 40-hour weeks. If something doesn’t give soon, our already crippled economy is going to completely fall apart.

As a result, the rich will fall due to the crumbling of the middle class and their ability to keep them wealthy. Maybe then they will finally listen to the people who are keeping them afloat.