Poverty Between The Rich And The Poor

Post the economic crisis in America and the recession during the years of 2008 and 2009, the country saw a great increase in poverty and worsening of living conditions of Americans. Currently, almost 50 million of fellow Americans are living in extremely bad conditions under the poverty line which means earning less than $11490 for a single person or $23550 for a family of four people. That’s about 1 in every 6 people in this country are living under poverty. A person living in this country on minimum wage which is $7.25 an hour also cannot pull himself out of poverty even after working 40 hours a week.

Homelessness is an epidemic problem that faces many American’s and families across the United States, especially in Detroit. You may see homeless people sleeping in the underpasses of freeways or walking and sitting on street corners or holding up a sign asking for some support for their next meal. We all have seen homeless individuals and thought it was not our problem for their circumstances or maybe had a belief he/she was lying about their situation. Many of us make a choice to give money or buy food, but there are others who make a choice to ignore or overlook the homeless population. Society has placed a stigma and label the homeless population labeling them destitute by choice, but for many homelessness has become a way of life.

While the birthrate increases approximately one percent every year, the death rate increases too. Some of these deaths are caused by poverty, job instability, food shortages and waste, poor infrastructure, unstable markets, climate change, war and conflict, nutritional quality, and discrimination. However, the United Nation says that around twenty-one thousand people die every day due to hunger or hunger related causes, the food just does not get to all the people around the world. Starvation is an old problem that has been around ever since the sixth century and possibly earlier. Right now, there are currently eight hundred seventy million people in the world who do not have enough to eat or drink, and this number is growing. Population growth is out of control in many developing areas, such as Africa and India. More and more children are being born each year, but with less and less food to feed them.

According to Schwartz-Nobel, America will lose as much as 130 billion in future productive capacity for every year that 14.5 American children continue to live in poverty (Koppelman and Goodhart, 2007). Sadly the seriousness of poverty is still often clouded by myths and misunderstandings by society at large. This essay studies the issue of poverty and classism in today's society.

The world poverty has previously been defined by the World Bank as’’ existing on less than $1.25 per day''. ’Poverty is a condition many population and regions worldwide live in and it’s more common in low income countries more so in high income countries. However there is population groups that live within the high income countries, but still live in poor surrounding and in poverty. Therefore, it can’t be claimed that poverty is limited to only low income or developing countries.

Socioeconomic status has been known to have a great effect on people. It’s a well-known fact that poverty and inequality affect the well-being and opportunities for families and their children. It is a common fact that people who have accumulated much wealth occupy the top echelons of society and enjoy almost all privileges brought about by their money and social status while the poor have little or no access to these privileges and are often marginalized in terms of education and social services. There are many forms of socio-economic inequality due to racial discrimination in Canada, for example some of the studies I mentioned in this paper show that a wage gap exists between White Canadians and other visible minorities. Despite pay equity

Poverty is visible anywhere and it happens everywhere, from the richest nations to the poorest. From the youth to the elderly, poverty can dramatically affect anyone. Some grow up in poverty, while others end up in it. Poverty has increased drastically over the years. The blame for the increased poverty has become an extremely controversial subject, as there are many contributing factors to spite each side. It is evident that it is the people in poverty themselves that is the underlying cause of it due to their insignificant will power and their choice to live off the government rather than working themselves.

“White families are given the benefit of the doubt when allegations of abuse and neglect arise” and blacks do not get the benefit of the doubt ever… (Post 2). The article “The Truth About Child Abuse and Poverty” by Dawn Post talks about how the average person overlooks the contributing factor of racial biases and socioeconomics that determine which families get put under the child welfare program. There are more colored families in the foster care system than white families and Post touches on a few points on why that is. She states that whites are given too much leeway, which I completely agree with. Post and I both agree this needs to be thought about more and the system needs to be evened out. Clearing the biases and giving everyone

“From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.” These insightful words were the beliefs of a 19th century philosopher named Karl Marx (“Marxist”). It is very difficult to sincerely comprehend how much truth lies within this simple idea. The very idea of humanity is rooted within the belief that we are all equal and should be treated fairly. So what happens that causes some of us rise to great power and incredible heights, while the rest of us suffer the inevitable calamity of poverty? Is it an unspoken actuality that some are born with intelligence and a path to success? Or is it just how we have created our world to function like? According to Marx, the inequality and inhumane gap between the rich and the poor is the result of a hypocritical, capitalist, government who has left little to no chance for the lower class to ever see the bright lights of prosperity.

An impoverished nation forms when there is great economic disparity between the rich and the poor. Adam Smith reflects on the income gap in his quote: “No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable.” Due to Saudi Arabia’s vast oil wealth, there is a large amount of the population who live well and fruitful, but more than 20 percent of the population lives in crippling poverty (Baker, 2013). Poverty is usually defined in either absolute or relative terms. Absolute poverty refers to the standard of living, which is reflected in satisfying the needs for basic survival (Rahim, Abidin, Ping, Alias, and, Muhammad, 2014). Relative poverty is reflected in the income gap between the rich and the poor (Rahim, et al., 2014). The study of poverty is often linked to globalization, and the effect of globalization on the world’s poor is highly debated (Rahim, et al., 2014). This paper will discuss the overall effects of the income gap, both positive and negative views of globalization on poverty, and an analysis of Adam’s Smith quote in relation to the income differences between the rich and the poor. The gap between the wealthy and the poor citizens of a country has an influence on the health, wellness, and overall economic growth of a nation.

In today’s world it’s seen that a good amount of people are poor and live in poverty. People can not make enough money which leaves them with little to nothing to support themselves and their families. This has people pushing the government to raise the minimum wage so they can have the money they need to live and not be in constant fear of becoming broke. Not only does being in poverty mean people can not support themselves it means they also can not afford things like a home, car, or other essentials. In the book The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver, we see how people and their families are impacted by poverty and how they have to end up living and what type of choices they make.

The project was not a fair chance for the children and people living there. The social  services, housing and racial equality for example. Two young African Americans from the book Our America, were able to have a chance to explain or show how the poverty in the project was. Chances like this aren't given on a daily to people in poverty; projects.

The relationship between social exclusion and poverty is not totally separable but it is important to state in plain terms that social exclusion has not replaced poverty as a concept. It rather includes poverty as part of a wider conception of the process and not a ‘new form of poverty'. Social exclusion has been known to be very complex, often it is pinpoint as an effect of poverty, and at other times as a cause. (Howarth and kenway 1998) .Individuals that are socially excluded are mostly usually poor, especially as poverty is defined in a multidimensional way. There are, however, several key differences between the concepts of poverty and social exclusion. These includes

The problem of poverty has always plagued the world, including developed countries, such as America. It is one of the main reasons that less developed countries have difficulty developing at the pace of other countries. Many different actions can cause poverty. Most people have different opinions on why poverty still exists. “Nearly equal portions of the public in advanced, emerging, and developing countries, cite the gap between the rich and the poor as a very big problem. And notably, it is the leading economic concern in the eyes of people in major economies such as China and Germany, at 42 and 39 percent, respectively, according to the new Pew Research survey. A global median of 29 percent say their government’s actions are to blame for inequality, making it the leading cause cited. People in advanced economies, in particular, believe that their governments are responsible for the rich getting richer and equally culpable for the poor becoming relatively poorer. A median of 32 percent in those nations blame government, three times the percentage that cite the failings of their educational system and double the share who blame their tax system” (Stokes). Some people that are wealthy are also greedy. Although they control a large amount of wealth, they are unwilling to share it. Although it should not be the responsibility of wealthy people to support people in poverty, it would be helpful to the advancement of society. Another contributing reason that poverty exists is

Although Africa is the second largest continent, one can say poverty is an ever-present situation (Abebe and Quaicoe, 2014). Largely due to historical background, social inequalities are the foundation of poverty in Africa. The continent has, for decades, been viewed as the epitome of poverty, with many countries plagued by unemployment, malnutrition, lack of education and limited access to healthcare. The difficulty with this is that poverty then becomes a viscous cycle, passed on from generation to generation, and thus hindering development of these countries. With several countries having gained independence, the development of African countries has been on a steady escalation, even being viewed as a potential for investment by global investors. However it takes more than a change in governance to correct the wrongs of years of social injustices. Abebe and Quaicoe (2014) found that policies in these countries have a major impact on poverty. And this is the reason why policies (particularly those addressing social development) need to be well drafted and well executed to ensure that wealth is evenly distributed, in order to minimise the gap between the rich and the poor.