...Families living near the poverty line in this day and age I believe will not survive. With the inflation of everything, especially gas prices, we the people of U.S. and the government has to come up with different solutions to prevent poverty in America. Almost fifty percent of people living in poverty are unemployed. That makes it very close to impossible to live in comfort, when the cost of living is so high and the minimum wages are low. Most of these people don't have enough money to live on for more than a few months, and finding a new job is not that easy especially if you're living in a city where hundreds of people just like you are looking for jobs. Why is there poverty in America anyway? I thought the U.S. was the safest, richest country on the planet. With this being said, it is very hard to believe that talks of poverty even exist. Poverty affects many individuals, especially those who grow up in that type of society. A lot of times poor children are not granted the same types of privileges and or opportunities as those of middle and high class children. But as far as education, I feel that all children are equal. It's just that most of the time children in poor families are pushed to get a good education even more, because parents want to see their kids live a lot better than themselves when they get older. There are many opportunities for a full academic or athletic scholarships and if children apply themselves they could very well take advantage of it. As a...
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...Running Head: POVERTY IN AMERICA The Effects of Poverty on Millions Americans and New faces of Poverty & Possible Prevention Clara M Jones Strayer University Instructor: Dr. Astiage Tondari Economics of Social Issues ECO405009VA016-1124-001 June 9, 2012 Abstract When a person think of poverty, one simply says’ and or think that individuals, families, groups, and what have you lack financial stability; however, there is so much more that should be considered when it comes to poverty. The World Health Organization has described poverty as the greatest cause of suffering on earth. Living in a state of financial instability is both physically and emotionally damaging, the stress alone can make one ill. Poverty continues to be a problem not only in the United States of America but in developing countries and less developed countries (LDC) worldwide. Some of those countries are under developed countries and developing countries; furthermore, there are major problems in both. The main focus in this paper is on poverty in America; also, the new faces of poverty and how it affects the new faces. . Four Families of Article from USA TODAY, September 28, 2011 The article covers various issues of poverty of different families and individuals; however, the main portion of the article is about a father in Leesburg, Virginia. The man’s name is Billy Schlegel. He is the father of three children; also, he is divorced as of 2004. Billy and his ex-wife share joint...
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...Poverty and Family: A threat to Marriage and Family happiness Poverty is one of the many factors contributing to severe problems faced by the world today. Causes of poverty are diverse but unemployment and wages below minimum are the most commonly known causes of poverty. It is unfortunate that some people inherit poverty, thus people born in particular social groups defined by race or location where poverty is prominent. Poverty is occurs on many levels and its effects are not only detrimental to individual families but to society as a whole. The effects of poverty on families are beyond measure. Noticeable effects of poverty on families include stress on bread-winners of the family and on children. Disease and inadequate parenting which is associated with numerous problems are also effects poverty noticeable in our everyday communities. Parents living under poverty conditions find it very hard to provide the basic needs such clothing, shelter and food needed for a decent living,” about 330,000 people, roughly the population of Windsor, turn to food banks every month in Ontario” (Par Health Nexus Santé). Economic hardships cause parents to think too much as they try to figure out possible ways of getting off their financial mess resulting in extensive stress. Anxiety and frustration due to failure to provide generates a sense of less self-worthy and causes sleepless nights to parents. Adults who find it difficult to bear the thought of failing to provide for their families...
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...Reasons Single Mothers Live in Poverty Tonya Norwood COM/150 February 16, 2014 Shyree Latham Reasons Single Mothers Live in Poverty According to Jennifer Wolf (2014), custodial single mothers are twice as likely to live in poverty as the general population. In 2009, 14 percent of the United States general population lived in poverty. 30 percent of custodial single mothers and their children lived in poverty. Moreover, thirteen million kids live in poverty in the U.S. The children living in poverty are affected in many different ways psychologically, socially, and physically. The federal poverty guideline for a family of four is $23,050.00 and that guideline compares to a median U.S. household income of $50,054.00 (Breslow, 2012). Many of these single mothers living in low income have low education. Nationally, over 80 percent of families headed by a parent without a high school diploma lives in poverty, compared to 54 percent of families headed by a parent a high school diploma, and only 22 percent of families headed by a parent with at least some college education. Single mothers live in poverty because they lack higher education and are products of poverty themselves. Lack of Education Thirty years ago less than twenty percent of birth occurred to single women. Today that number has doubled. At one time race was a huge factor, however. Today, education is a key factor. In 1990, ten percent of birth occurred to white single mothers with...
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...Running head: POVERTY AND IT’S EVERYDAY LIFE CHANGES 1 Poverty and its Everyday Life Changes Professor Deanna R. Lindsey Sociology 100, Strayer University November 4, 2011 POVERTY AND IT’S EVERYDAY LIFE CHANGES 2 Abstract This report tells of the ratings of poverty in the United States and America. It tells how poverty is constantly changing the lives of men, women, and children on an everyday basis. It speaks of things we can do as a society to help support and change the lives of those living in poverty. Poverty And It’s Everyday Life Changes 3 Poverty is a very emotional and important issue in America. It is a fact that all social inequality creates poverty. There are generally two types of poverty that are discussed, which are relative poverty and absolute poverty .Relative poverty is the lack of resources of some people in relation to those who have more. Absolute poverty is the lack of resources that is life threatening. It has been reported by “Global Stratification “, that about one billion human beings, which is one person in six are at risk of absolute poverty (Sociology, Thirteenth Edition). In this wealthy country of the Unite States families still go hungry, and live in in adequate housing, and suffer poor health because of serious lack of resources. In 2002, it was reported by the Census Bureau that poverty in the United States was had reached a high of 35 million people (Rector and Johnson, 2004). It is fact that we as human...
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...Poverty in India Absolute poverty or destitution is the term used to describe deprivation of basic human needs i.e. food, water, sanitation, clothing, shelter, health care and education. While relative poverty refers to economic inequality in a particular location or society in which people live (The Economist, 2010). India has 1/3rd of World’s poorest population according to World Bank and it has been facing significantly high levels of poverty with most people living in agrarian and rural communities where 77%of poor Indians live. India is amongst the globally largest countries and thus poverty has a considerable pressure and weight on the country; about three-quarters of India’s population reside in rural areas and suffer higher levels of poverty regardless of efforts and policies being implemented from the past four decades (Prato & Longo, 2012). The rates of poverty in the country are affected by issues such as presence of factors, population density, ecological conditions and irrigation facilities etc. While there are other factors too that influence the level of poverty in rural areas of India i.e. caste, land ownership, literacy and gender (Yusuf, 2014). Impacts of Openness and Literacy rate on poverty in India Degree of openness refers to an economic metric, calculated as the ratio of country's total trade, the sum of exports plus imports, to the country's gross domestic product. The interpretation of the Openness Index is the higher the index the larger...
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...“We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.” Mother Teresa The factors of why Liam, Carole and the family are living in poverty, could be derived from a number of reasons surrounding their personal circumstances and backgrounds. Reasons people could be in poverty could be overcrowding in the home, lack of opportunities in their area, don’t have the money for seasonal clothing, crime rates in the area and many more. Some of the points that have been made in the scenario have made me form an opinion of why this family could be in poverty. To find out why they could possibly living in poverty, I would start back in 1960’s when Carole’s mother moved onto a large East London council estate. Looking at how people lived in London in the 60’s could explain the upbringing and the life Carole had before meeting her partner and having their children. In the East End of London, during the 1960’s, high rise flats were first built to replace the slums. Unfortunately re-housing the slum tenants into high rise accommodation, broke up the communities causing social exclusion. This type of poverty would be called structural poverty. This is where poverty is out of the individuals control, and is generally down to the structure of the country, the Government. Other examples of structural poverty would be lack of education...
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...Why can’t we end Poverty in America? Jake Hauser English 102 12/6/13 Today in the United States, more than 46 million Americans are living in poverty. The word poverty is defined as; the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. In other words, poverty is essentially the state of being poor. In a broad perspective, there are two types of poverty. There is relative poverty which refers to people who live in poor accommodations, cannot afford certain necessities, and struggle to make ends meet. In most cases for theses people, there is welfare available to help them so it would be rare for them to go without somewhere to live or to go starving. The other kind of poverty is known as absolute poverty. This is the kind of poverty that you would see in third world countries. These people have no food, no water and no help and it usually leads to death. Believe it or not, poverty is a worldwide problem that is taking place in every nation on the globe. In fact, half of the people in the world today are living on less than $2.50 per day. Statistically, Haiti is the most poverty stricken country in the world, with 77% of it’s population living below the poverty line. It also has a 40% unemployment rate, and many poverty-stricken people live on less than $1 a day. The United States may not be the most poverty stricken country in the world, but that doesn’t mean that there still isn’t a big problem in our...
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...Poverty Questions 1A) – The number of children living in poverty before housing costs is significantly (about 1.2 million) lower than after housing cost. This is a trend that is kept constant over the decade as the number of children living in poverty before housing costs in 2006 is about 2.8 million and the number after housing costs is 3.8 million, showing that throughout 1996 to 2006 the number of children living in poverty is higher after housing costs. The number of children living in poverty is reduced by 2006, both before and after housing costs as in 1996 the number of children living in poverty before housing costs is 3 million and is reduced to 2.8 million by 2006, whereas the number after housing costs is 4.2 million in 1996 and reduced over the decade. 1B) – Absolute poverty is when an individual or household lives below the poverty line, usually when their income is insufficient for them to afford basic shelter, food, clothing and other necessary commodities needed to live. Relative poverty is when people are poor in comparison to others or compared to the national average. However, relative poverty can vary depending on what it is being compared to, whereas absolute poverty would be the same regardless of the position of others in that society. Absolute poverty shows that individuals may not be able to access basic commodities to suffice their basic needs. Due to various benefit systems being available in the UK, absolute poverty is fairly rare and the data...
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...Cause and Effect of Poverty Barbara Virgo Strayer University Abstract Over the past twenty five years it seem as if poverty has become an Institution in the United States of America, with so much structural changes, economic structuring such as the shifting of manufacturing employment, the high rate of mental illness, the increasing high school drop out rate, the skyrocketing rates of incarceration, with single parenting on the rise and most alarmingly is the amounts of children living in poverty. The risk of not working or working low paying jobs is essential for poverty overload that can lead to the breakdown of family system and the lack of willpower to even address this issue. In the United States years of poverty will “contributes to financial hardships, inadequate housing, substandard schools, and deteriorating neighborhood”. (Dashiff, 2009, p. 23-32). Poverty is voiceless yet powerful enough to cause enormous burden on those that are trapped without any means of escaping its fury. The Unites States Census Bureau revealed that poverty is estimated to affect over thirty five million people, including thirteen million of which are children. Poverty is becoming an epidemic problem in the United States of America; it is unfortunate that even though the United States is a very rich developed country it is associated with so many people living in poverty, deplorable, destitute conditions (there is so much blame to go around.) Poverty is when the basic human...
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...Americans were living under the poverty line* (Bureau U. S., 2014). That same year it was estimated that women accounted for 30.6% of those living in poverty, while men only accounted for 15.7% (Bureau U. S., 2014). Women living in poverty have become a prevalent trend due to the feminization of poverty* and the glass ceiling* that they face when attempting to achieve upward social mobility*. As a result women and children often account for majority of those who are poor. A whopping 50.7% of those living in poverty today are women and children (Bureau U. S., 2014). Occurrences such as racial discrimination, low educational skills, single parenting, low paying jobs, and lack of opportunities...
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...and poverty have been problems and subjects of social discussion for as long as civilization has been in existence. Even today, society still struggles with the question of how to fix and reduce both of these problems. As the decades go by and more and more statistics are collected, we can see a pattern of poverty and crime rates. What many hope to see in these graphs and statistics is a reduction of both poverty and crime. Every year billions of dollars are spent on fighting crime and helping those who find their selves struggling through poverty. Will the effort spent on reducing crime through better security make the impact on criminal activity we hope it does, or should we work on bringing those who commit crimes to a higher standard of living? Many would argue that the two are linked together and that poverty is the number one promoter and cause of criminal activity, and that adults and children who grow up living in poverty are more likely to be apart of this criminal activity. Should the government spent more money on fighting crime, or more on those who live in poverty and that are more likely to commit the crimes? The answer to that is simple; we should spend more on bringing those in poverty, out of it. Facts have shown that adults and children who live and are raised in poverty stricken areas are more likely to commit crime. As poverty levels fluctuate throughout history, so do crime levels. There are many aspects that come into play for those living in poverty...
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...Capabilities: Income and Poverty In Creating Capabilities Martha C. Nussabaum suggests that measuring poverty using one’s income can be misleading and problematic when it comes to understanding the real reason why the person is poor. Nussabaum argues that poverty “involves heterogeneous failures of opportunity, which are not always well correlated with income” (Nussabaum 143). The problem with measuring poverty through the means of just income is outdated, there are many devastating factors that can greatly altar one’s living condition besides their income. As Nussabaum suggests, income is an inaccurate means in determining one’s well-being because other factors such as education, nutrition and debt could contribute to greatly altering one’s earnings, then causes them to go into poverty. This essay is to explain why measuring poverty through income is a problem. Nussabaum’s belief of why the measurement of poverty is determined by income is flawed and how it should not be used because, there are other factors that can greatly altar ones living conditions will be defined as: “Poverty involves heterogeneous failures of opportunity, which are not always well correlated with income; moreover, people in positions of social exclusion may have difficulty converting income into actual functioning, so income is not even a good proxy for capabilities”(Nussabaum 143-4). The research in this essay includes the article What’s the Best Way to Measure Poverty? by Matthew Philips (freakonomics...
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...country in terms of the World Bank tables but according to Wilson (2011:2) as well as Cornell and Wilson (2012:1) poverty in South Africa, despite its high income ranking, is widespread and severe. The only possible explanation for the contradiction in South Africa’s characteristics would be the deep levels of inequality experienced within the country (Wilson 2011: 2). This essay is going to prove, through looking at what poverty and inequality entail, how it originated in South Africa as well as evaluating statistical evidence, that inequality is indeed a more pressing socio-economic challenge than poverty is in contemporary South Africa. According to Laderchi, Saith and Stewart (2007:1) most policies now a days are somehow related to the impact of poverty on the country but in order for these policies to make a difference it is important to know what we are aiming at and therefore a clear understanding of what poverty and inequality is as well as where these terms originated from is essential for success. Laderchi, Saith and Stewart (2007) supply us with multiple approaches to poverty including the monetary approach, capabilities approach, social exclusion approach as well as participatory approach. Universally the monetary approach is dominantly accepted and used. This approach describes poverty as being a shortfall below a minimum level of resources or poverty line which is assessed through whether the individual can meet the requirements of an adequate diet as well as being...
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...Introduction The number of children facing poverty in America continues to increase for the nation although the United States is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Frequent discussions of children’s well-being in the U.S. refer to the recent expansion rate in poverty. For example, more than 1.1 million children made the 2009 and 2010 poverty population list; based on the American community survey (U.S. Census Bureau, 2009). This paper analyzes the current extent of poverty and its implications amongst children in the United States. It also analyzes the history, structure, health, strength of poverty, and critical shortcomings that theoretically covers the recognized deprivation of poverty. Therefore, the overall hypothesis for this article reveals the critical effects that poverty has on children and families living in a wealthy country. How is it that poverty continues to increase in such an upper class country? What is Poverty? Researchers and policy makers have endlessly debated the precise definition of poverty. The description of the distinguished word has two inexact concepts: absolute poverty and relative poverty. Absolute poverty insinuates a set of resources and individual must attain to reach some standard of living threshold. For monetary measures, objective income thresholds or poverty line deliberately mirrors the cost of food, housing, affordable healthcare, and other...
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