Many answers will come to our mind when we are asking to identify a social, environmental, or political problem that is of local, national, or global concern. To my little Knowledge, I think “Poverty” is the social, environmental, or political problem that is of local, national, or global concern. This essay is based on “Poverty in America.”
Introduction
Poverty is defined merely as the state of deprivation or the lack of usual material possessions or socially acceptable amount of money. The U.S. government commonly used “Poverty threshold” to measure poverty in the U.S. The poverty threshold identify poverty as the in the ability of goods and services that are widely taken for granted by members of the society and the consumer price index is used when this threshold is adjusted for inflation.
Most Americans are likely to spend a year below the poverty line between ages 25 and 75 at some point in time. It is seen that in rural and inner-city part of the U.S. poverty rates are persistently high compared to the suburban areas.
Studies have shown that the estimates of the people of Americans living in poverty are very high. In 2015, an organization estimated that 43.1 million of the Americans (i.e., about 13.5% of Americans) lived in poverty. Other scholars were putting the number of poverty rate around 100 million and equating to a third of the U.S population; they found out that most Americans lives nearly in poverty. Poverty rates have frequently exceeded the prosperous nation in the 1930s. New Hampshire, Vermont, Minnesota, and Nebraska are the state in the U.S. found to have the lowest poverty rate (i.e., 8.7% to 9.1% of their population lives in poverty).
In 2009 the number of Americans living in poverty was getting to the poverty rate in the 1960s which led to the national war on poverty. The poverty rate in the United States was extremely high in 2011, where household lives on less than $2 before the government helps, was double 1996 poverty rate at 1.5 million households. In 2012, about 14% of the seniors were living in poverty while about 18% of the children were living in poverty. Poverty has been reduced with the addition of Social Security benefits than any other factor.
In 2011, the high level of poverty was child poverty, which 16.7 million children were living in an insecure household and with no food to eat, which is 35% higher than 2007 levels. The U.S was ranked as the second highest relative child poverty rate in 2013 in the UNICEF report. A study in 2016 by the Urban Institute indicates that U.S. teenagers in low-income communities are forced to join gangs, sell drugs and engage in prostitution because they don’t have food.
In January 2009, there were about 643,000 homeless people nationwide. Some people were living on the streets, some stayed in an abandoned building, and some stayed in the emergency shelter housing program. Between October 2008 and September 2009, about 0.5% (1.56 million) Americans used an emergency shelter housing program and 44% of homeless Americans were employed. In 2018, cities with increases in the cost of living like Los Angeles, Portland, and San Francisco lives made their people live in their vehicles because they can afford an accommodation due to the rise in the cost of living.
In June 2016, the United States was warned by the IMF to raise the minimum wage and offer paid to maternity women to tackle the high poverty rate. In December 2017, Philip Alston made two-weeks research on the effects of poverty in the United States, and he condemned Private wealth and public squalor. In May 2018, the report was issued and indicate that about 40 million Americans live in poverty and over five million live in “Third World” situations or problems.
Facts on Poverty in America
People from all over the world have come to the United States to find freedom and make enough wealth to make a good family. Many believe that the United States being the world’s wealthiest nations doesn’t struggle with poverty; this is called the fallacy of hasty generalization. People can say to the fact that poverty is also a problem faced by Americans, but they don’t like to accept it. People think the poor only dwell in the third world counties, but we don’t deny it, poverty is also a problem in America. According to the United States Census Commission in 2016, it was estimated that 43.1 million Americans lived in poverty.
The leading causes of poverty in America can be said to be: the high paying jobs (i.e., the factory work) are leaving the United States, and the size of the middle class are dwelling. The increase of the aging population can also cause the problem. This can happen because America spends more than Europe on social welfare and poverty is still a problem.
“Americans have more citizens living in poverty today than any time in the history of the United States; we need to reduce this poverty problem” said by Sen. Bernie Sanders.
He proceeded by saying he was right, but what are the facts to know about poverty in America. Here are some facts about poverty in America to think about:
Today’s poverty looks different.
Poverty tends to trend worldwide, but there is more to the story. People who are poor in the united states own computers, have cars and even have a good living quarters compared to people in other countries. People defined as poor by the United States government had cable television and also owned a car. The Heritage Foundation reported that “Nowadays, the poorest Americans live a better life than the richest persons 100years ago”.
More people are in debt.
The Americans with lower-income households are falling into enormous debt. Most of the people in the United States owe more than what they own. Americans get loans at the rates of 300 percent of their annual interest to pay bills and sort other stuff. This makes all the checking cashing place in the low-income areas.
Single women are impacted.
The National Poverty Centre found that families headed by single women mostly face high poverty rate, especially if the single women are Hispanic or black. The single women are the greater risk of poverty because they have children and without any help from any spouse.
Child poverty is costly.
It was found out by the National Centre for Children that childhood poverty is costly in the United States. The United States spends about 500 billion dollars on these children every year. It was estimated that 15 million kids are staying with families below the poverty threshold. To take good care and support the children the families need to make twice what they earn. The National center found that child poverty is rampant among black, Latino and America Indian children.
Mississippi as the highest poverty rates for children with about 23.2%, New Mexico with 19.6%, Louisiana with 14.4%, Alabama with 16.98% and New Hampshire has the lowest rate of childhood poverty.
The aging population is at greater risk.
Older adults don’t have enough to keep with rising health care bills, utility cost, and housing cost; this makes them keep struggling. About 20 million Americans over 60 years of age are living below the federal poverty level because they are on a fixed income. The Justice in Aging, the organization that fights senior poverty, found out that by 2030 about 72 million seniors will be living in poverty in America. This is due to the lack of pensions because average workers don’t have enough to save for retirement. The organization also reported that “Homelessness among seniors is projected to increase by 33% in 2020 and increase by 100% by 2050†because 1 in 5 seniors about to retire doesn’t have saving.
References
- Bane, M. J., David, E. (1986). ‘Slipping Into and Out of Poverty.’ Journal of Human Resources. 21:1, pp. 1–23.
- Bradley, D., E. Huber, S. Moller, F. Nielsen, and J. D. Stephens (2003). “Determinants of Relative Poverty in Advanced Capitalist Democracies.” American Sociological Review. 68(1): 22–51. doi:10.2307/3088901.
- Census.gov, (September 2017) Income and Poverty in the United States: 2016. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2017/demo/P60-259.pdf
- Citro, C., Robert M. (1995). Measuring Poverty: A New Approach. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press
- Jana, K. (2014). Welfare programs have shown to reduce poverty in America. The Guardian. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
- Sawhill, I. (1988). ‘Poverty in the U.S.: Why is it so Persistent?’ Journal of Economic Literature. September, 26, pp. 1073–086.