Skolnick And Diaries Chapter Summaries

Poverty is a multifaceted issue, it is dependent on many factors and the ‘one size fits all’ approach does not work. Out of all the possible explanations as to why people are still living in poverty in the U.S., the structural view of poverty covers the most bases. The structural view of poverty explains that poverty can only ‘be understood and explained only with reference to political and economic characteristics of the society’ (Kerbo, p.266). With this in mind, this theory considers the position of the poor in the occupational structure. Since the poor have jobs that require low skill, which means anyone can learn how to do them, there is much more competition for such jobs. Those with jobs that require greater skills, such as doctors,

The book “The Other America”, written by Michael Harrington, describes poverty in America in the 1950s and 1960s, when America became one of the most affluent and advanced nations in the world. The book was written in 1962, and Harrington states that there were about 50,000,000 (about 25% of the total population) poor in America at that time. The author did extensive research with respect to the family income levels to derive the poverty numbers, and used his own observations and experiences to write this book. This book addresses the reasons for poverty, the nature of poverty, the culture of poverty, the blindness of Middle Class America with respect to poverty, and the responsibility of all Americans in addressing the issue of poverty in America.

The view that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer has been heard repeatedly in reference to America’s income inequality. Though ironic, it comes as no surprise that America, a continent that easily trumps other countries in terms of wealth would be affected by the issue of poverty at such high levels. While much has said regarding the poverty levels, many economists, educators and scholars feel that the income inequality in America may be the reason why it is difficult to live and maintain a middle class lifestyle or to rise out of poverty into the middle class in the current economic state. With this in mind, the only way America, has a chance of lessening or eliminating poverty altogether is by understanding how it exists.

‘Poverty is on the agenda of the Every Child Matters framework, with one of the five outcomes stating that every child should ‘achieve wealth and economic well being.’ This means is it is important that children experiencing poverty have the same opportunities as their peers.’(CYPW, pg 186/187)

No matter which country you would look into whether it’s from wealthier to those less wealthy countries through the eyes of economics, there are bound to be types of inequity within their borders. Inequity is a very crucial problem in the United States, you would think that our economy here in the states is booming, and the citizens are living life easy or without worry. Life is the United States isn’t as it seems, in fact, Inequity is in fact a big problem even in the United States. Over the years, there has been millions of Americans that were considered to be in poor or in poverty line that are not able to provide for themselves and their families. We can sadly see those Americans on the streets, cars or shelters unable to keep-ends meet that are not able to keep a decent paying job. That is why throughout this paper I’ll be discussing why inequity is a big issue in the United States from how income is distributed through causes of income inequality, social status, and even how the government interventions is trying to alleviate income inequity.

When considering poverty, most would focus on monetary values and claim that a way to fix poverty is to generate more money. Sarah Burd-Sharps and Kristen Lewis, co-directors of Measure of America, strive to get people talking about other factors of poverty rather than just income. If Burd-Sharps and Lewis are right that opportunity inequality is a big problem, as I think they are, then we need to reassess the popular assumption that money is the cause of poverty. . Inequalities in health, environment, education, and wealth are creating disadvantages for younger generations that can limit success.

Currently more than 46 million people are impoverished. Poverty exists because the economic system is organized in ways that make the wealth, wealthier at one end and creates conditions that make poverty inevitable at the other. The economic system creates poverty in other ways such as the drive for profit. The economy will set value higher for competition. Competition motivates companies and management to gain control on cost. It makes it a common choice to move jobs from countries to countries where labor is cheaper and workers are neutral about working in poor conditions. Decision making also has terrible effects on millions and millions of people, families and communities. Having a full time job cannot guarantee of a decent income, which is why so many families depend on the two or more earnings from jobs or other adults just to make a living. Battling between work and families also brings a dilemma to families and decision making. For instance, divorce is increasing resulting in large numbers of single parent with families who have a hard time depending on themselves for taking care of their child or children and a living income. “A separate issue that contagiously attempts to measure trends in poverty and income levels more generally is difficult of measuring changes in the cost of living (Feldstein,

Nelson Mandela once said that “As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest” (Mandela). Mandela quote personifies the attitudes that the author Sherman Alexie, and Paul Krugman have towards the rift of poverty in the United States. The state of social unrest between economic classes in the United States has been a major issue for generations, and continues to be a problem to this day. This separation between economic classes in America has caused a rift to be formed, and throughout the history of the United States, this rift is yet to be repaired. It is this rift that causes those individuals that are trapped in poverty to face problems trying to escape it.

This study considers the conditions of income, wealth and poverty in the United States of America. Income got a better distribution during the 70s but the level of economic growth decreased aggravating the unequal distribution of income (Stone, et al). However, wealth enclosed an inequality of distribution in the United States. It is referred to the unequal distribution of assets among residents of the United States. Also wealth is associated to the values of homes, automobiles, personal valuables, businesses, savings, and investments. In this context, statistics of poverty indicate people living at the economic adversity without satisfying their basic necessities. In mention by the article named “Measuring Poverty (A New Approach),” the statistical data of poverty is published by the U.S. government being a topic of importance and political sensitivity.

America is one of the world’s largest and prosperous developed countries in the world, but take a closer look and you realize that the great United States of America has an alarmingly large amount of poverty. Where there once used to be an “American Dream” there now lies the cold hard truth, there is less and less opportunity every day and growing inequality every second. Joseph E. Stiglitz how America has turned into a country that would be unrecognizable to any of the founding fathers. In The Price of InequalityStiglitz visits this problem and searches for the source of the economic inequality that the United States is faced with today. Stiglitz came to the conclusion that America is declining and turning into a society like the one

A major social problem in America today is its inequality of the distribution of income. "Income inequality refers to the gap between the rich and the poor. The United States has the most unequal income distribution in the industrialized world, and it is growing at a faster rate than any other industrialized country" (Eitzen & Leedham, pg. 37). The main reason as to why income is distributed so unequally is because of the gap between social classes.

Poverty is a ongoing vicious cycle that is caused by unemployment, lack of affordable housing, substance abuse, lack of education, medical expenses and other contributing factors but, is affecting numerous lives, including children and upcoming generations. According to Basic Facts about Low-Income Children, “the younger the child is, the more likely he or she is to experience poverty in the U.S.”. The children befall as victims of the parents struggles against or of poverty. One common cause and struggle is the poor economy. Overtime the economy has gotten weaker and has created an increase in unemployment. In result, these unemployed people have a challenging time finding work considering jobs are limited and the competition is immensely

The writer assets the objective ideology in the opening paragraph of the article. He states that another 2.6 million American felled into poverty in the United States is the preceding year, as per the Census Bureau reports, and by this assertion the number of Americans living below the official poverty line, 46.2 million people, was the highest number in the 52 years the bureau has been publishing figures on it, the introductory statistics presented by the author presents a clear picture of a threatening anticipation. The developed countries like United States of America is at a verge of poverty and that more that 46.2 million people are bound carry out their livings below the average line of poverty. There are many key issues that have contributed to the increasing poverty in America a few of them includes the reduced market share and labor outsourcing. Two of these factors are elaborated in the following paper.

First, economic injustices are particularly prevalent in today 's world with more and more people being classified below the poverty line while the top 10 percent controls more wealth than the entire 90 percent. Notably, this negative scenario has tripled within the last 40 years especially in the United States where statistics indicate that America has a wide gap between the wealthy and poor with the trend showing no sign of abetting. Similarly, the same data has revealed that America has the highest levels of child poverty than any other developed country, and the rate currently

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.