poverty in america

Poverty, the state of being extremely poor, exists all over America! There are several different types of poverty, and the causes of poverty. Most people think of poverty as just somebody who is homeless and has no job, somebody who has no money to support the basic needs of life, and wears ragged clothing and lives under a bridge. What people don’t know is there are people living in poverty that have jobs and make money but live so poorly that they are categorized with people that live in absolute poverty.

The current poverty rate in America is 13.5 percent (US Census Bureau). That measures out to roughly 43.1 million Americans. What exactly is poverty? Poverty means not having enough money to meet basic needs including food, clothing and shelter. However, poverty is so much more than just not having enough money. Poverty is not having access to a doctor or medications you may need, poverty is not having access to a good education. Poverty can be the people who are barely able to pay for food and shelter and simply can’t afford other expenses such as car repairs, field trips with their children and any other extracurricular activity.

There is also a major case of gentrification, where suburban Americans are moving to urban neighborhoods raising the process of living and resulting in the Americans living in those neighborhoods to have to move to the suburbs. Resulting in the suburbs now facing poverty and lacking the resources to aid the people who are moving there, like public transportation. There has been a frequent amount of progress to help the working poor, however, there has been no improvement because it is nowhere near what is actually needed. A major point which was made in the movie was that once you are working, you no longer qualify for assistance because you would now be making too much. Many of the working poor have incomes right at the poverty level and because of that they do not qualify. It is a major problem, because these individuals are just making enough to get by and not to actual “live comfortably”. Overall the film explains, because of Americans not believing in the seriousness of poverty or the ones affected by it there has been no major moves to improve it resulting in poverty rates only getting higher over the

staggering? Poverty occurs when a person’s need for food, clothing and shelter are not being

Poverty has been around as long as there has been an America. Programs have been set in place to help offset the issue, such as Food Stamps and housing. The government’s implementation of some of these programs is to ensure that the poor have a place to sleep and adequate meals to eat. There are issues with these programs that contribute to the furthering of poverty, but for the most part are more helpful than harmful. While there is a chance that there will always be a poverty line that Americans will be under, there are solutions that can be implemented towards getting many of these people above it. Some options might include keeping jobs within the

The U.S. is among the richest countries in the world today, yet millions of people in America still live below the poverty level. The number of Americans living in poverty is increasing day by day as well as the number of children. Poverty in America has become a great threat to children’s wellbeing as they are affected emotionally, socially, and even in their school performance (Wood 720). Poverty in America is mainly caused by lack of jobs. Many people who live in poverty in the United States is due to lack of jobs and getting jobs with minimum wage. Another cause of poverty is due to the rise in the cost of living. Poverty exists in America despite the fact that is among the richest nations in the world.

Many reforms in the UnitedStates have been passed to help fight against the “War on Poverty”; but it has not been effective in eradicating poverty in the U.S. There are about 46 million people who are living in impoverished conditions and poverty continues to be a social issue in this country (Heritage Foundation, 2011) In the beginning, our country was formed under the belief that “this land is the land of opportunity and if we worked hard enough the American Dream can be gained” (Schwarz, 1997). People immigrate to this country today in hopes of becoming rich so they could gain a better life. In spite of coming to this country for a better life, many are faced with the lack of skills and money to succeed. In the end, most will end

The topic of poverty is America has been both a huge focus and a sore subject for many. There are differing opinions on how to handle our growing population of people below the poverty line, with some saying the solution is the good old “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” rhetoric to others saying impoverished people have children and refuse to work just to get bigger checks from their states.

There is an issue in the United States that a large portion of the population is either choosing to ignore or is simply naïve to the facts. I am a firm believer that poverty is directly associated to education. Research has backed this theory as it shows that 53% of those classified in upper class are college graduates compared to only 15% of whom identify as lower class (Parker, 2012). While there has been a lot of research conducted on who the upper class are and what the lower class need in order to bring themselves out of poverty there has been little to no change in funding practices of public education. If the end state goal of public education is to produce our countries future why are Americans not taking a more aggressive financial

Based on the poverty threshold, or the smallest annual salary required to live as determined by the government, more than forty million people in America live in poverty (“UC Davis Center for Poverty Research”). That’s forty million people who make less money than the bare minimum required to support themselves or their family. Of those forty million, nineteen and a half million make less than fifty percent of the bare minimum they need to support themselves (“UC Davis Center for Poverty Research”). The only reason many of these people or families can support a stable life is thanks to many government welfare programs. Worst yet is

Katz (1983) summarizes the history of Poverty in America has been going on for many years. But in the early 20th century is when the people of the United States started to become more vulnerable to poverty and when poverty started to become part of the United States background and history. “When industrialization started advancing after the Civil War, wages were raised with the work being done. This had opened a new door for Americans to be more vulnerable. Immigrants, Native Americans, and African Americans moving across the United States due to war, racism, and the industrialization of farming” (Katz,1983). It leads to the Progressive Era led to the high unemployment and dangerous factory environments. This quickly led to conditions in the urban

In modern America poverty is still prevalent. People feel that a reason is for this is because people plainly don’t want to work. Others want to work, but simply can’t find a job. This is impart due to empty promises given to us by our President’s. (whitehouse.gov) Certain cities have been heavily impacted such as Compton, California, Detroit, Michigan, and Harlem, New

Even though having the “poor class” is a necessary evil needed for society to function, most Americans, at some point in time, will experience what it is like to live in poverty or live below the poverty line. One main reason for having a high percentage of people living in poverty is because the U.S. policy makers have ignored the poor and have given tax breaks to those with a much higher income. Funding for welfare was slashed and extended unemployment benefits were ended. With little success with the economic reform the United States has been going through for the past five years, about 14.5 percent of Americans are still living under the poverty line.

While it has proven to be difficult to end poverty in America, Peter Edelman is optimistic. In his book So Rich, So Poor Edelman makes a call to action. There are four prominent ideas that underpin Edelman’s reasoning throughout the book: (1) More people must understand why poverty is still so prevalent in America; (2) extreme poverty must be taken into consideration as a shocking 6 million Americans’ sole income was food stamps in 2011. This fact alone creates a sense of urgency that drives Edelman; (3) increasing income inequality should be treated as a moral issue; and (4) bold political action will be required if substantive progress will be made in alleviating poverty.

Ronald Reagan once said, “We fought a war on poverty, and poverty won.” I read the book, Dancing in the dark by Morris Dickstein. This book was about the great depression, and the impacts it had on American life. The traditional thought of poverty, people dying of hunger and people lying in the roads, has been erased. America has abolished poverty by the traditional standards but the thought of poverty and what it is has changed. In America we consider poverty to be spending all your money on bills, so you have no money left for food to feed your family. We consider poverty to be just being poor. One-Third of our population makes less than $38,000. This is not enough to be able to be above the poverty line. Anything below this