Poverty In The United States

Poverty In The United States

The United States, though being a super power, poverty still persists. It is unbelievable to see The U.S top the chat of having a high rate of poverty among the most developed countries in the world. The Government always put measures to eradicate poverty but it has not been fully successful. Statistics shows that even during economic boom, poverty rate is only reduced but not eradicated completely. This shows that poverty in the United States is cyclical in nature whereby it rotates around 13 and 17%. According to the Census Bureau, poverty rate in the U.S is estimated to be at 13.2%.

Defining poverty is complex as it involves a lot of considerations. Generally, it is based on individual money income compared to the standard of living of a given country. In the United States, the government uses two sets of poverty measurement namely poverty threshold and poverty guidelines. Poverty threshold regards poverty as having insufficient income to afford the goods and services that the majority in the society takes for granted. Poverty guidelines determine whether one qualifies for assistance from the government or not. The government puts an annual income of $16530 as the poverty threshold.

Hispanic and the African-Americans are the groups with the highest poverty rate with each group having 23.2% and 24.7% respectively. This shows that poverty is rampant among the minorities group in the United States. Poverty is also varies with age. It said that around 58% of the total population lives at least one year under the poverty line between the age of twenty five and seventy five years. In the family, poverty rate is higher in a single parent family compared to two parents. Single mothers are the most affected ones. In integrating family and race or ethnicity it is also shows that families of Hispanic and African-Americans also top the chat of having high poverty rates.

Causes of poverty are complicated as just as understanding poverty. It is not clear who or what causes poverty especially looking poverty in a sociological point of view. There is the perspective that the poor themselves are the cause of their own poverty. This contradicts their own belief that poverty is caused by either the government or the rich so as to continue to rule over them. This result to what the sociologist term as “a culture of poverty”, where by the poor have little concern of coming out of poverty. As a result of this the poor regard themselves the disadvantaged, inferior, hopeless, and helpless. These characteristics are passes from generation to generation.

Looking at unemployment as being a major cause of poverty, it has also its causes. The unemployed are grouped into different types, from those who are willing to work, to those who do not up to those who are fully qualified but no jobs. The limiting factors also exists that can highly contribute to why poverty can be analyzed in stereotypic perspective. Race for an example can be a reason why one gets employment or not. This is what characterizes the distribution of poverty in the United States where the minorities’ races are leading in the poverty chat.

Education has also contributed to explaining the causes of poverty. Lack of education or minimal education has contributed to increase in poverty. Education can be looked in two different perspectives. One is lack of access of education among the poor, whereby the poor cannot afford money to go to school or further his or her studies. This makes them disadvantageous in getting jobs that are well paying, that is why the poor continue being poor through generation to generation. Another perspective can involve people who had an opportunity to go to school but drop out and gave up with education. These people end up being poor due to lack of employment or skills.

In the United States the welfare payment has also made some people consider living under the poverty line so as to continue receiving the welfare. This is greatly witnessed in the inner cities where the poor prefer receiving the welfare payments to work in jobs that have minimum wages like being maids in restaurant or attendants in a supermarket. Other causes of poverty include separation or divorce in a marriage, early pregnancies or addiction to drugs. This is why most single parent especially the single mothers languish in poverty as most cannot afford to feed the whole family by herself.

Poverty has severe effects especially to children who grow up in poverty. Children are deemed to be very vulnerable to be affected with poverty more health wise. Children born under poverty are likely to be under weight which leads to various disabilities and frequent ailments. This is the cause of a high child mortality rate among the poor people. Children education is also compromised with the conditions that are associated with poverty like poor health, lack of fees and proper guidelines on what is best for them (Rector and Kirk).

The constraints and hard life poor people face stress them a lot. This greatly affects the elderly who the responsibility of the family falls for. In effect it leads to diseases that are associated with stress like high blood pressure, heart attack and to some extended committing suicide becomes an option. Stress also is also closely related to depression. Depression leads to violence in the family and even in the neighborhood. Violence is evident in the ghettos where poverty rate is high.

Criminal activity is also highly associated with poverty. People who face hard economic times turn to crime as the source of income. Homelessness is an extreme effect of poverty. Being homeless is a worst scenario one goes through. This is associated with lack of proper nutrition, health problems, depression, discrimination and many more negative effects.

Poverty can only be reduced but not completely eradicated. The complexity of poverty makes it impossible for it to be eradicated. Efforts have ever since been put to eradicate poverty. The Federal Government and other nongovernmental organization are always on the fore front in fighting poverty. Poverty eradication campaigns have been in force especially targeting specific groups like the Hispanic or the Blacks. Education has been a key issue in fighting poverty. Education equips one with the skills and knowledge to enable him or her to get employment, thus raising his or her standard of living.

Legislation of laws that provide equity, charities, and community organizing are among other measures that can be taken to alleviate poverty. Fighting poverty is usually seen as a government task. This has not been that effective because there are things that the government cannot provide at all times like guidance and counseling. Thus, fighting poverty is a collective task that involves everyone in the society; the rich, the middle class together with the poor, as the government and nongovernmental organization comes in as a boost of the collective effort.

References

Rector, R. E. and Kirk, A. J, Understanding Poverty in America. The Heritage Foundation.Retrieved December 4, 2010, fromhttp://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/bg1713.cfm

U. S. Census. (2009). Income, Expenditures, Poverty and Wealth. (PDF). Retrieved December 4,2010, from http://www.census.gov/prod/2009pubs/10statab/income.pdf.