America’s Shame: the Chronicle of Higher Education Essay

Instead of giving handouts, the U.S. should allow poor countries figure things out for themselves. “The American way” doesn’t work for everyone and countries, without help, should figure out what kind of system works best for them. Meanwhile, the United can use the money that is given as foreign aid on itself.

Everyone knows what the word poverty means. It means poor, unable to buy the necessities to survive in today's world. We do not realize how easy it is for a person to fall into poverty: A lost job, a sudden illness, a death in the family or the endless cycle of being born into poverty and not knowing how to overcome it. There are so many children in poverty and a family's structure can effect the outcome. Most of the people who are at the poverty level need some type of help to overcome the obstacles. There are mane issues that deal with poverty and many things that can be done to stop it.

Poverty on a macro-level seems to be an ongoing issue that continues to catch the attention of the richer countries, celebrities, charity organizations and other organizations. When we see the images of people living in unlivable conditions or a catastrophe hits, empathy and sympathy automatically kicks in. By having compassion, we as tax payers begin to send money to government donors. Some of the money will be disbursed to charity organizations and non-government organizations to provide aid to a nation. The money then should go into completing projects such as building

According to “Poverty in the U.S. and the Supplemental Poverty Measure” in 2011, the 46.2 million persons in the United States had income below the poverty line. The statistics in the poverty rate did not differ from the prior year. This is evidence that relieving poverty in the United States should be the priority. In addition, differences between government operations in various countries can affect the efforts to reduce poverty on a global level, as Thomas states, “The

People could argue that since we are donating such a low percent of our GDP it would make sense for the US to increase aid levels. This would also be an argument for anyone that has certain religious beliefs. In the article A Call To Virtue, the author, Jeffrey Sachs shares one of the Pope’s various messages, “The urgent core of Francis’ message, which is the message of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, challenges this American idea by proclaiming that the path to happiness lies not solely or mainly through the defense of rights but through the exercise of virtues, most notably justice and charity.” In some religions people believe it is morally right to help through charity to find happiness. Some people also argue that foreign aid levels should decrease because of the economic crisis that the US is in. The United States current debt is over eighteen trillion dollars right now according to usdebtclock.org. People believe that by decreasing foreign aid levels it will take away some debt. If the levels were to maintain there would not be worry about creating more debt by increasing levels and the US would also not have to worry about pulling out and not giving enough. Another argument is that aid should be unconditional and should be given to whoever needs it in time of crisis no matter

There are several ways that poverty can be prevented. More jobs should be offered, and the income should be able to support their basic needs. Growing up in poverty minimizes a child’s opportunities or success, so opportunities should be displayed for them. The skills of young mothers should be improved, and the poor should be offered education or job training. People who are wealthier can donate money, food, learning tools, and clothes. Obviously one of the more common ways that poverty can be helped is buy people giving up their time for them. You can go to food drives, go to fundraisers, or go to soup kitchens. Everyone should get involved to try to decrease the amount of poverty

Many skeptics challenge the reasoning for investing so much money into helping so many other countries when that money could instead help us improve internal affairs. After all, foreign aid spending has increased to $50 billion a year today, which could be put towards funding education to ensure that more kids go to college and possibly affecting the innovation of the future(Morris). Giving more than you receive is nice, but when it involves a country 's financial crisis, maybe it 's best if Santa cuts back some of this year 's presents. And although the argument may be valid, lending out a helping hand can create more allies than enemies to help us in return when we need it. In fact, foreign aid only accounts for 0.5 percent of the federal budget (Stearn). Compared to all the other matters at hand that the government is worrying about, the amount of spending put into aiding poorer countries is positive in both a moral aspect and a political aspect.

Ever had that one friend? The one who tries to help, but no matter how hard he tries, he just aggravates the situation. This friend, Steve, insists he is helping, and those around, too, would support that he is indeed helping. But Steve is actually worsening the circumstances. He is like countries who provide foreign aid to less developed countries. Foreign aid, defined as “the international transfer of capital, goods, or services from a country or international organization for the benefit of the recipient country or its population,” can be military, economic, or humanitarian (“Foreign”). It is often granted to less developed countries in order to evoke government reforms or to stimulate economic growth. However, foreign aid neither elicits government reform, nor does it consistently and reliably stimulate economic growth; therefore, the United States should discontinue providing foreign economic aid.

Poverty in the United States has been on the rise for many years, especially after the 2007 recession. The nation 's poverty rate is currently 15.1% which is the highest since 1993. Ever since the recession, the poverty rate has gone up 2.6% from 2007 through 2009. In 2006, 36 million Americans were living under poverty but that number rapidly rose to 46 million in 2012. The United States continues to provide billions of dollars in foreign aid to other countries even though 46 million Americans are living under poverty. The United States should provide less funding for international foreign policy because it is statistically proven that money spent on foreign aid is not as effective as money spent on programs in the United States.

As a civilized nation who is a leader in development and progress, the United States Federal Government has a responsibility to provide foreign aid.

We have a huge moral obligation as individuals and as a society to reduce poverty. We should increase social programs, minimum wage, food stamps and educational programs, employ the homeless and much more. Research shows that children from families of poverty have more stress leading to mental damage. Many people work for the minimum wage and even the hardest of workers only make a little money. Why is it that we help mainly the people who are lazy and do not deserve it? If anything cut welfare and increase minimum wages. Society as a whole needs to be motivated and encouraging as a community. The military should get cuts and then we could increase minimum wage and welfare. Businesses should help in supporting charities. With supporting charities,

Hardin informs us that the well- intentioned of helping is actually counterproductive. When the United States gives international aid to third world countries, we cause more suffering in the end. The poor country that receives aid is not growing wealthy or

In the land of the free and home of the brave, this great nation continues to see a change. The change spoken of is not one that bears fruit or gives to our own people. Instead the United States appears focused on helping other countries with aid financially as well as sustenance. Many authors have written about this recently and this paper will shed some light on why the United States should focus on its own people first and only then assist the rest of the world (Critical206). “If we can conquer space, we can conquer childhood hunger in our own nation” -- Buzz Aldrin.

One can easily identify the fact that poverty is generally considered as one among the most serious problems in human life. But the mainstream society provides less importance to this serious problem because human life did undergo transformation from empathy to disinterestedness. The western nations are comparatively safe from poverty and related issues, but the third-world nations are under the threat of the same. The problems related to global poverty is unimaginable because it forces human beings to do anything, just for survival. Still, world nations, especially the developed nations, can play the most important role in alleviating poverty from the world. Thesis statement: Global poverty, the most serious problem faced by humanity primarily

For example; the United States itself and other nations such as Somalia and Congo continue to have people with no shelter over their head and those with no food to eat, regardless of how hard some may strive to make ends meet, they are still in poverty. As those more auspicious, we should consider it as a moral obligation to assist those people who are less fortunate, be it those in the same nation as us or those farther away.