The Poverty Of The United States

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.

Poverty has always been with us from beggars outside the gates of Jerusalem to the mentally ill homeless woman in the park. America is known for our huge difference in culture and class. This is due partly to the dynamics behind the political decisions of this country. The president himself admits that America is more unequal than it’s been since the great depression and many of his own supporters say he has failed. America now has, by many standards, the lowest social mobility of all of the high-end countries, meaning that a child born into poverty is likely to grow up as a poor adult. This is surprising for a country that not only prides itself as being a middle class society, but as the society where anyone can make it and where

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.

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

The land of freedom, the United States, is the Promised Land for all. Its citizen can be much as prosperous as they want. Nonetheless, a phenomenon has occurred gradually that has changed the economy, social levels, income, and wealth of all Americans. This is called inequality. Inequality has become a social problem since people has not raised their voice take advantage of voting, large corporations as CEOs who take instead of give.

Wealth inequality in the United States has grown tremendously since 1970. The United States continuously reveals higher rates of inequality as a result of perpetual support for free market capitalism. The high rates of wealth inequality cause the growing financial crisis to persist, lower socio-economic mobility, increase national poverty, and have adverse effects on health and well being.

Americans today live in a distinctly unequal society. Inequality is now wider than it used to be in the last century, and the division in income, wages, and wealth are broader than they are in other developed economies of the world. Wealth inequality is the imbalance of wealth or income within a society, and it is one of the most vital economic challenge the US is facing today because the distribution of wealth is more dispersed, making the inequality in wealth distribution at its highest. While the matter has been discussed for many years, the actual income disparity in the U.S. has heightened and is now verging on an extreme gap that portends to impede long-term economic growth. The huge gap between the wealthy and poor is squeezing the U.S. economy, the wealth gap threatens economic growth by diminishing social mobility and producing a less-educated workforce who are not able to compete in the global economy. unrestrained level of income inequality causes political pressures, it discourages trade, investment, and hiring. The present level of income inequality in the U.S. is shrinking GDP growth, and the world's largest economy is struggling to recover from the Great Recession.

The Census Bureau uses a set of money income thresholds that vary by family size and composition to determine who is in poverty. If the total income for a family or unrelated individual falls below the relevant poverty threshold, then the family (and every individual in it) or unrelated individual is considered in poverty(“Definitions Poverty”). The United States Census Bureau collects data about the United States and reports it for the general public, these include the poverty levels in the United States. Baker states “The United States stands out for its failure to significantly reduce child poverty over the past few decades and its unusually high child poverty rates relative to other rich countries” (1166). If the United States is one of the top richest countries, why does the child poverty rate continue to increase?Marriage and work have been persistent in debates about poverty, research has shown that both marriage and work have changed drastically in recent

This is a topic that had been lingering in the shadows until the Occupy Wall street movement made many take a good look at the inequalities that exist all across the board. Vidal states that “the outrage of Occupy was directed at the top 1 percent of the population, an elite class consisting mainly of investment bankers, corporate executives, and layers who currently own 35 percent of the total net wealth in the United States.” (Anderson pg 270) Vidal explains that in order for us to fully understand economic inequality we need to take a look at the stagnation of living standards experienced by millions of

Wealth inequality is a controversial topic because money distribution in America doesn’t ‘seem right. The upper class possess most of the wealth in America and the bottom don’t nearly get as much.

Income inequality in the United States has been increasing gradually as from the 20th century where there was economic stability. It is estimated that around a quarter of the American worker population receives not more than $10 in an hour. Through this condition, it creates an income that is below what the federal poverty level demands. Those who receive low income include the fast food employees, cashiers, nurse's aides and many more. Other individuals get good payments which are above $10 per hour. Wealth inequality in America is quite common as there are those who are the major economic block and those who can’t afford even the three meals in a day. The social issues that income and wealth inequality might cause in the United States include poverty, household debts becoming high, high crime rates, no health insurance for the low-income families, high mobility rates, high crime rates and school dropouts.

Income inequality has affected American citizens ever since the American Dream came to existence. The American Dream is centered around the concept of working hard and earning enough money to support a family, own a home, send children to college, and invest for retirement. Economic gains in income are one of the only possible ways to achieve enough wealth to fulfill the dream. Unfortunately, many people cannot achieve this dream due to low income. Income inequality refers to the uneven distribution of income and wealth between the social classes of American citizens. The United States has often experienced a rise in inequality as the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, increasing the unstable gap between the two classes. The

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 has been on a incline since the economic downturn in 2007. Poverty is defined as “the state of being inferior in quality or insufficient in amount”, but a more modern definition used today is “in state of being extremely poor”. According to “Poverty in the United States” a report done by Congressional Digest, the poverty line in 2012 was 15.0 percent, which represents 46.5 million people living at or below the poverty line, and was 2.7 points higher in this year than in 2007. The article also stated that in 2012, the family poverty rate and the number of families in poverty was 11.8 percent and 9.5 million and the median income for households was $51,017, which means many of these households have students who become eligible for free lunches. In Lindsey Layton’s article “Most Public

With that said, the United States Census Bureau published the official poverty level report of 2014 in which 46.7 million people are living below quality standard. This alarming fact of recorded data, has the number of poor people or people living in poverty ranked as one of the largest since the start of publishing poverty statistics. In 2014 the poverty rate was 14.8%, which was down from 15.1% recorded in 2010. Household cash income for families was “less than half of the poverty line, or about $10,000 a year for a family of four” (World Hunger Education Service, 2016). It represented 6.6% of all people and 44.6% of those in poverty.