The Poverty Of The United States

“More children are living below the poverty line in the United States that in any other developed country.” This statement made by Dan Brown is eye opening to say the least. America, the land of opportunity, is failing its citizens which have had a monstrous effect on American children. Although, many may think our economy has rebounded in recent years which would lead to a decrease in children below the poverty line, the trend of children below the poverty line has been on the rise which is in desperate need to make a turn for the better. There are solutions to this crisis such as creating jobs, paid leave and sick days, and increased education.

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

Imagine all the wealth in the United States. Roughly 84.9 trillion dollars, a pretty big number to wrap your mind around, right? Now imagine a third of that number concentrated into the hands of only 1% of the population of the United States. Not only would this seem unfair, but also immoral. Sadly, this unfortunate situation is a reality in the United States. Of all the political issues that face this nation, wealth inequality is often overlooked. This type of inequality is defined as the unequal distribution of assets among a population. The United States has one of the highest gaps between the upper and lower class out of other developed countries. Resolving this issue is a complicated

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.

Although the United States may be an industrialized country, it still “…has one of the highest poverty rates in the advanced world” in comparison to other similar countries (Conley 400). This may be due to the high economic inequality between the rich and the poor with “economic rewards [being] far more lopsided” (Conley 400). The American class system is unlike any other industrialized nation in the world as the rich make an average of five to six times more income than the poor: a

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.

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 been an ongoing issue since the birth of this Nation. When one thinks of poverty the last people we think of are the ones closest to home. As children some are told “finish your dinner, there are starving kids in Africa”, but what about the starving children whom are in neighborhoods close to us? Poverty is everywhere, even the places that are thought of as wealthy. Poverty in America; a continuing issue.There are many different definitions of poverty. The United States Census Bureau states that

The ninth President of the United States, William Henry Harrison once said, “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” President Harrison addressed this quote in a speech in 1840, nearly two hundred years later nothing has seemed to change since than. In fact the gap between the rich and the poor only seems to have increased since than. The richest 10% of the people in the world currently make up for 85% of the global wealth. One of the biggest problems with poverty is the affect it has on a child’s development and educational outcomes. Economically speaking poverty is based on a person’s annual income. For a family of four if you make anything less than $24,000 collectively in a year than you are considered to be poor. A person who receives

Since America was founded, immigrants have developed and shaped each state, making the country so unique and to some, the most desirable place to live. “The streets were paved of gold” was the slogan used to attract so many people from around the world, but, how many people truly “struck gold” after moving here? Only 28% of the population (according to a 2005 census) live in the middle to upper class. To put this statistic into perspective; one in every 4 families are living knowing that they are financially stable. The question presented to teens today is whether you’re born into wealth or work for it. Day to day people swear by the phrase; “It’s not what you know it's who you know”, and this does hold a substantial amount of truth but it

Whatever happened to the idea of “women and children first”? This concept has been slowly diminishing throughout the years. In today’s society, poverty can be seen in the faces of women and children across the globe. The overwhelming majority of the poor consists of women and children. As of 2013, one in seven women live in poverty (Robbins and Morrison 2014: 1). The poverty of women and children is a global problem, but it is also a problem that hits home. Poverty exists in our hometowns and neighborhoods across the United States. This problem is not just in low-income countries like much of Africa or the third world countries we see on commercials. It is also prevalent in high-income countries like our own. Poverty may have a women’s face,

In today’s economy the need for people with college degrees is at an all-time high. With factories starting to turn to robots, the world now needs people to program the robots. In order for you to program a robot, you need to learn how to code; which can usually can only be done at a four year university. . If every American had some type of education beyond high school, Americans would be better off because more people would have higher paying jobs while poverty levels would go down, more family time, crime rates would decrease, and more jobs would come and stay in the United States.

Today thousands of Americans are waking up and enjoying a pot of coffee, cooking themselves breakfast, and taking their morning pills and medication. Whereas in other poverty stricken areas today, thousands of americans are waking up and not looking forward to their sickness brimmed morning, knowing that there was no hope for a medication that they could afford to buy. According to the article “31 Million People Can't Afford Healthcare” by Robert King, many believe that with the help of the government and a little ingenuity then it is possible for the 3.1 million U.S. citizens suffering from the severe lack of free health care to be able to receive medical attention in their greatest time of need. Faced with this problem, many people have wondered

In the United States, there are about more than forty-six million people living in impoverished conditions today. Poverty is a major conflict issue in this country amongst people who are part of the lower class because American families always had a hard time making ends meet, even before the Great Recession began. Living in poverty puts them at a disadvantage because they have to choose between necessitates like health care, child care, and food in order to help themselves and their family members. Though many reforms had been made to help cope with those who are living in poverty, it has been keeping many from being able to climb the social class ladder because the “War on Poverty” has not been

Income inequality is an issue not foreign to the American people. The gap between the rich and the poor has irrefutably increased over the past five decades and continues to grow to massive extents. It is not the presence of this imbalance that is in question, but rather whether or not this imbalance hinders the average, working American’s chance at upward mobility. This is a prevalent topic among society today because the wealth gap between the rich and the poor could essentially have detrimental effects on our economy if left unattended to. As consumers, the lower and middle classes fuel the upper class, thus they are a vital catalyst to the success of our economy. If the lower and middle classes fail because they are not making enough money to survive, then the failure of the upper class will soon follow (CBPP 2015). Still, there are some accredited scholars who claim that such a downfall would not be derived from income inequality because the issue does not have an effect on Americans’ chance of upward mobility in any way.