The Significance Of Extreme Poverty And Inequality In America

In America Mississippi has the highest poverty rate in America. Compared to Hawaii, Maryland, and Massachusetts which have a lower percentage of low income residents. Wealthier states have super high percentage rates of low income residents in deep povert.In 2013 the federal poverty line for a family of 4 was $23,550 while deep poverty was living on less than $12,000 per year. The bigger problem is that rich states in deep poverty have reduced their overall poverty rates.

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.

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.

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.

Author Bryan Stevenson (2014) writes, “The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned”(p.18). According to the non-profit, Feeding America (2016), in 2015, 43.1 million, or 13.5%, of people in the United States were impoverished. Poverty is a vicious cycle, trapping people and families for generations. The inability to escape poverty is due in part to difficult class mobility in the U.S. but also because certain factors reinforce the idea and state of poverty. Bryan Stevenson’s bestseller Just Mercy, Lindsey Cook’s article “U.S. Education: Still Separate and Unequal”, Michelle Alexander’s excerpt “The Lockdown”, and Sarah Smarsh’s “Poor Teeth” all explore the idea of poverty and the systems that sustain it. While all four readings focus on poverty differently and explore it using different techniques, they all share similar big picture ideas about how poverty is fortified through systematic, societal, and psychological efforts.

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

Poverty and inequality cripple America in every state and region of this country. These social problems overlap between social class and different cultures. As we read Evicted by Matthew Desmond, and Hillbilly Elegy, by J.D Vance, these problems were brought to the forefront in their own unique way. Evicted focused on the lower class level of urban poverty in the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The people that were highlighted in this book were struggling to make ends meet every month, and keep food on the table. Many of the families that we read about were evicted countless times, and struggled to stay out of local homeless shelters. Hillbilly Elegy focused more on the struggles of the working class, and how the people of

Public housing is another program that helps to provide a roof over a family’s heads for reduced costs. Rent in some places can be quite high and a family of four may find it hard even to afford a small 3 bedroom house without breaking their pockets.

“Poverty is the worst form of violence.” Mahatma Gandhi’s words still ring true in today’s society. Poverty is nothing to sweep under the rug or put on the back burner. While many statistics state that poverty is decreasing, other sources state the opposite. Poverty is a hot topic in the U.S., foreign countries, and speaks true about many genders, ethnic groups, and children.

Many notable wars have begun and ended without people taking time to truly understand them. It is the case that it is harder to understand something one has not experienced yet, and the war on poverty is not exempt from this. However, poverty has existed all throughout the history of mankind’s most notable societies, from the French revolution in 1789 which bloodied the halls of the Palace of Versailles to the Occupy Wall Street Movement in 2011 which reminded Americans that economic inequality is still prevalent. The Invisible Poverty of Other America by Peter Dreier, 7 Lies About Welfare by Danica Johnson, and Where to Sleep When You’re Homeless by an anonymous ex-homeless person, all give insight to the problems we’ve learned to turn a

In light of the most recent election results I find myself worrying about the countless social and economic injustices that will perpetuate to occur in our country. I dwell on our history, of how our social welfare system created and continues to reinforce discrimination, privilege and oppression. How did we end up like this and where is that “American dream” promised to those within our boarders? In our country, “an obsession with free-market logic and culture has led to the political class to craft policies that promote private interests over the public good” explains Marc Lamont Hill, a political contributor for CNN and author to the thought provoking book, Nobody: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond. In ‘Nobody,’ published earlier this year, Hill sets the scene of social injustice through his analysis of the vulnerable, providing a snapshot of social upheaval. Two other literary works, $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America by Kathryn Edin and Luke Shaefer, and Bryan Stevenson’s book, Just Mercy: A story of justice and redemption, additionally seek to describe how social injustices and economic issues manifest in America. Together, all three texts use shocking personal accounts from people, community members and onlookers to craft together the narrative of America’s devastating reality. ‘Nobody’, ‘Just Mercy’, and ‘$2.00 a Day’ exposes our society’s shortcomings through their themes of poverty,

The sociological perspective that is employed in the article “Rethinking American Poverty” by Mark R. Rank is Conflict Theory. The conflict perspective views society as comprised of various groups and interests competing for power and resources. Unlike other perspective, conflict theorists focus more on the negative side of the society. This perspective is used in this article because the author wanted to show the reasons why America has the highest rate of impoverishment even though America is the wealthiest country in the world.

From 1996 to 2011, poverty was on the rise in U.S households with children. A means-tested transfer program will be utilized to discuss the findings. The World Bank defined “Extreme poverty” as global poverty: a person which only earns about $2.00 dollars per day. By using 1996 to 2008 information that was provided by Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), it was estimated by mid-2011, on any given month, about 1.65 million households were living in conditions that were considered to be extreme poverty with 3.55 million being children and this is based on the cash income. In households where children lived with non-elderly parents, accounted for 4.3 percent. Since 1996 extreme poverty has sharply risen, because of the 1996 welfare

The proposed question is, “Will there always be poverty?”, the answer is absolutely. Looking at the United States alone the answer will still be yes. Why will there always be poverty? Simply because there is no way to completely fix it, there are simply too many variables at play. Some folks have their government conspiracy theories and for all we know, they may be right in some aspects but, honestly there just isn’t one solution to the poverty issue and just way too many factors to make it all work.

Many Americans believe that America has one of the most powerful economies that is involved in the global market and the best average living standards. Since the creation of the United States it has been known as the land of endless opportunities, regardless of social or economic classes. Under this philosophy, all citizens should have equal rights and given equal opportunity to progress in the workforce. However many Americans are living full lives and do not have financial obstacles to get over. Even so, millions of Americans are still faced with poor living conditions and struggle with providing for their families basic needs. Whether Americans believe poverty and inequality exist in America exists or not, the authors in three different articles:” Culture of Success” by Brink Lindsey, “A Great Time to Be Alive?” by Matt Yglesias, and “Born Poor and Smart” by Angela Locke, and “The War Against the Poor Instead of Programs to End Poverty”by Herbert J. Gans, shared ideas on how to help fix the problems of the impoverished community and address the cause of the problem. The four articles also explain different biases that the impoverish have to endure everyday.