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The Importance Of The Poverty Line In The United States

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The poverty line is vital to the government of the United States. While society uses it to determine who is considered poor, there have been some changes in world for it to be invalid. With times changing, there could be some adjustments done to the policy for it to be more accurate in modern times. While, there is much to be done, one would need to know the start of the poverty line.
The beginning of the official poverty line was established in 1963 by Mollie Orshanky, the purpose being to see what makes one poor. Orshanky’s job was to determine what was the biggest necessity for people to purchase. With her angle on food being key, she configured the formula, which resulted the first poverty line being approximately $3,600 a year. With her first draft of the line being presented, she then had to rework to include less people in poverty, which moved the line to $3,000 a year. …show more content…
While the prices of food have decreased in recent years, the increase of living has gone up. Today, society has more needs than people who lived in the 1960s. We live in a technological era, which we now need devices such as cell phones at our side. Along with cell phones, we also need transportation and other appliances to be included in our budget. In recent years, more couples have been both working, which brings in dual income. With dual income helping households live more comfortably with the ability of being able to afford things, it makes life a little easier. With the poverty line still being determined by the needs of 1963, one can safely say that the poverty line today is

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