Poverty: Spend Less Paid Less Educated Workers?

Poverty is when people lack the essentials needed for survival. Starvation, lack of correct housing, clean fresh water, not enough clothing, and so much more are all examples of poverty. People think that poverty is natural, that it’s continually been with mankind, most people are under the impression that is unavoidable and destined. In reality it’s not essential and certainly not wanted. Like Nelson Mandela once said: “Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.”

Poverty is “about not having enough money to meet basic needs including food, clothing and shelter”(what is poverty, 2009). Everybody might know this meaning and the problem.

Being poor can mean something to one individual compared to another. Whether it is not having clean water to drink or not being able to afford a new laptop. Poverty is very broad, without a single definition.

Poverty is where one person or a group of people don’t have enough money and recourses to meet needs that are considered acceptable in the general public. Although there has been effort to prevent poverty, it is still rampant around the world. 3 billion people live on less than $2.50 a day while 1.3 billion of those people live on less than $1.50 a day. Poverty also affects children. Every 4 seconds a child dies of poverty. 1 billion children live in poverty. Two examples of world powers with large populations but still have child poverty are the United States and Brazil. The poverty line in the United States for a family of four is $23,550. [Federal Poverty Level 2013-2014]. The poverty line

Poverty: The state of being extremely poor. The state of being inferior in quality or insufficient in amount.

Poverty is a state or condition in which a person or community lacks the financial resources and essentials to enjoy a minimum standard of living that is considered acceptable in society. In the next few paragraphs I will explain some of the causes of poverty, some consequences of poverty and I will recommend a solution to tackling long-term poverty in the United States

Poverty is defined as lacking in money and/or possessions. Poverty perpetuates, infests family health and well being, hinders the ability for proper nutritional growth, chips away at personal resilience, deteriorates educational systems, widens the social gaps of “us” versus “them” feeding into stigmas.

Webster’s online dictionary defines poverty as “the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions (n.d.)”. Hoynes, Page, and Stevens (2006) define poverty as a family’s lack of pretax earned income in a given year that is below the poverty threshold for the family size. The World Bank (2000) defines poverty as the lack of material benefits considered basic necessities in society.

Poverty is a problem in the United States that affects many people through the course of their lives. Poverty is the state of one who lacks a socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. Poverty is not a choice but a matter of circumstance.

Poverty, as defined at www.dictionary.com, is the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor. What poverty is taken to mean depends on who asks the question, how it is understood, and who responds to it. It’s about not having enough money to meet basic needs including food, clothing and shelter. The United States is considered the richest country in the world, and yet there are millions of its residents living in poverty. The way the government measures poverty is with absolute poverty and relative poverty.

Everyone has their own definition of what poverty is to them. For most Americans, the word “poverty” refers to near destitution, which is believed to be the inability to provide healthy food, clean clothing, and safe shelter for one’s family (Rank). Poverty is seen differently through the eyes of others, poverty to a millionaire could mean a family of four living in a three bedroom home in the suburb, while the average inner city family can only dream of having such a home. Poverty defined by the Oxford English Dictionary is the condition of having little or no wealth or few material possessions; indigence,

As stated by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Poverty is defined as the state of being poor. Many children in the United States are faced with poverty. In fact, 22% of children in the United State are poor (Wood 707). Poverty is more commonly found in larger cities because of the higher population but that does not exclude small cities from being impoverished. As a result of poverty, children are at risk for academic failure, severe mental health complications, and poverty throughout adulthood.

Poverty is such a huge concept it is hard to stuff it down and condense it into a single notion. However a dictionary definition says that poverty is, “ the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions”(Webster Merriam Dictionary). There are also many different types of poverty, but the one most of the world uses to measure the poverty in an individual country is relative poverty. It is the condition in which people lack the minimum amount of income in order to maintain the standard of living in the society they live in. It is called relative because it fluctuates depending on the specific economic standard in that area (Williams). In America, the United States census bureau determines a state

Hall and Midgley (2004: 14), said poverty can be defined as a condition of material and social deprivation that causes individuals living under decent standard of living, or the conditions in which individuals experience relative deprivation compared with other individuals in society. John Friedman, poverty is defined as the inequality of opportunity to accumulate social power base. Bases of social power include (not limited to) productive capital or assets (such as land, housing, equipment, health, and other) sources of finance, social organizations hand and politics that can be used to achieve the common interests, the social network for jobs, goods; knowledge, skills adequate and useful information (Richard Quinney ,. 1979).

Poverty is a growing problem in the United States and is associated with many key attributes including health. The poorer population are exposed to more environmental and personal health risks, many are less well nourished, and are less able to access health care. This turns into the population having a higher risk of illness and disability. Poverty has many negative effects, such as illness, illness can decrease household savings, decrease productivity, and lead to a reduced quality of life, thereby continuing or even increasing poverty.