Poverty in the United States - Ricky Miller

Poverty in the United States

    Can you ever recall driving under a bridge and seeing a sleeping bag? Or, late at night in the outskirts of a major city watching homeless people keeping warm by the fire? Have you ever seen people on the street with all their belonging, in a grocery cart they are carrying? If you have witnessed this, then you are one of many people that have seen poverty in America, but what really is poverty? “Poverty is a state of deprivation, lacking the usual or socially acceptable amounts of money or material possessions”(‘Poverty in...’). In short, poverty is the lowest point of the food chain for financial level in the States, even worse, in 2016 the U.S. Census Bureau estimates the “official poverty rate is 12.7 percent”(Semega). One out of eight Americans are living in poverty, It’s estimated that “43.1 million Americans lived in poverty”(Semega). Poverty is a huge problem for the American people, so can poverty be fixed? Or, more sensibly can we atleast get these people off the streets? To eradicate poverty, America must produce more government benefits, shelter homes, new jobs.

   

Bang, Boom, Pow, Clack, the sounds of the machines roar in the factories. It’s 1870, and poverty is at an all time high. Every one in four men are jobless, even more is homeless, this is one of the worst levels of poverty in all time. But luckily you weren’t alive years before during the 1820’s, when immigration to America was at an all time high, so high it caused the population to sky rocket. With an overwhelming population increase, this required more food and shelter, but with low pay jobs life became difficult, this started the poverty rise that would only get worse. You go home from the factory only to realize 50 years later it’s only getting worse, as you lay down to sleep on the floor in your very small tenement with nine others sleeping right next to you, you dream of a better tomorrow, one that gets everyone out of poverty.

During this time period the “1800s most poor Americans outside the South resembled the poor of Europe” (Poverty.). When the 1870s hit poverty got so bad that a name was established for poor unmarried men nicknamed “ ‘tramp’  became a commonplace description of…  men who walked the highways or illegally rode the railroads” (Poverty.).

    Things nowadays are different, poverty isn’t as bad as the 1800s however, the situation is far from good. “The employment decline experienced during the December 2007–June 2009 recession was greater than that of any recession of recent decades” (5). After the recession hit by October 2009 unemployment hit a peak of 10%, a very negative result. This number meant that “2.6 million” (Goldman) amount of people in America were jobless, “the highest level in more than six decades” (Goldman) this caused poverty soar up.

With poverty still standing tall in america, we must take a look at all factors that will be affected by this terrible situation. One major situation is the mental state of people in poverty, an idea that has connected with Veblen is that the “poor are under risk of exclusion, of losing their social status and identity, and perhaps also, therefore, their friends” (Mood). The mental state of those in poverty has to be at a extremely lower level then compared to those not in poverty, as they are the “bottom of the barrel”.  The relationships people in poverty have with friends are affected heavily, unless it's a more intimate or closer relationship, as those then become unconditional personal relation. Another problem is “very low food security is almost always an intermittent and episodic problem for families rather than a chronic condition” (Sheffield). An episodic problem is a situation that happens during a phase or time period rather then a chronic condition which happens frequently. These individual problems help reason why poverty is an epidemic, an epidemic is generally a disease, the definition of disease is a disorder of structure or function. Poverty is a disorder of being part of a living healthy society. Some could argue that Poverty is necessary for all healthy societies, however there has never truly been a society without poverty so how do we know what a great and healthy civilization really is?

Poverty is devastating on a community level with people generally preferring to be grouped up in a city or community making “concentrated poverty contributes to poor housing and health conditions, higher crime and school dropout rates, as well as employment dislocations”(Poverty impacts…). Poverty is a epidemic on a community scale because it can and always is a widespread occurrence, with the system of economics we have there are classes and with classes creates high income and low income, the low income scale will always be impoverished. This economic “scale” can never be unbalanced, it will create chaos, for example look back at any economic failures in the last six thousand years.

    Take for example the Great Depression, during this time unemployment hit a high of “24.9% in 1933” (Unemployment...). This was from a major stock market crash and a serious weakness in the american economy. Poverty during the 30s was so bad that it literally felt like people were living in a third world country, this was very bad considering U.S.A. was one of the safest and most striving places to be.

    Another more modern example is just everyday facts, like did you know “¼ of all humans live without electricity” (11 facts…), this number is staggering. Another fact is “More than 750 million people lack adequate access to clean drinking water” (11 facts…). These facts are just one of many that stand out to why poverty is an epidemic and why it’s as bad as it is.

    Below is a Poverty Chart showing the poverty in the United States of America between 1959 to 2009.

What can we do now? With the United States of America in a poverty epidemic we must do something, to change the tide. In “The Top 10 Solutions to Cut Poverty and Grow the Middle Class” By Rebecca Vallas and Melissa Boteach we are given a great starting list to tackle this stressful issue. One point is to Create jobs, Vallas and Boteach make a great point that “the best pathway out of poverty is a well-paying job”(Vallas, Rebecca, and Melissa Boteach). They explain that the best way to get the impoverished back on their feet is to give them an opportunity to, by creating 5.6 million jobs this could potentially jump start the economy kicking poverty out. Another idea Rebecca and Melissa proposed was “raising the minimum wage”(Vallas, Rebecca, and Melissa Boteach) higher. Now as great as this is, raising the minimum wage could potentially create a mass inflation which would cripple our economy and make poverty even worse. In the Top 10 Solutions, the authors also suggest that the United States “Provide paid leave and paid sick days”(Vallas, Rebecca, and Melissa Boteach). As great as getting paid while not at work is, It is very costly towards business companies and is a very dangerous risk to take. The best method to tackle Poverty would be to raise more awareness, the more awareness there is the better we can work as a community to take down this crucial problem.

    Camus believed that life had no meaning, his viewpoint of absurdism is a very inefficient view at solving the poverty problem. Camus is recognized as viewing suicide as the most rational answer to life. With Absurdity, people believe that life is useless, so what would motivate them to want to fix or contribute to society? With religion or meaning that you create, the average human can strive for success in their life, and see the true meaning of life. With this strive, this motivation, this ambition we can push for a mindset to better fix this world, especially poverty which is what scales a human based on the amount of money he/she has. Camus would disagree about the status of poverty as it is nothing but a nature figment of human form social levels, however I disagree with him. If Camus truly understood the true devastation poverty has on a life then he would have altered look at reality.

Poverty is a very bad epidemic it must be examined, resolved and maintained. Life should not be judged based by the amount of money you have. If it is to be judged, then help give the poverished a better chance at bettering themselves in society.

Work Cited

Sheffield, Rachel. “Understanding Poverty in the United States: Surprising Facts About America's Poor.” The Heritage Foundation, www.heritage.org/poverty-and-inequality/report/understanding-poverty-the-united-states-surprising-facts-about.  

"Poverty." Encyclopedia of the United States in the Nineteenth Century, edited by Paul Finkelman, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001. U.S. History in Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/BT2350040328/UHIC?u=oldt1017&xid=5bc61dcf. Accessed 10 Mar. 2018.

Meyers, Morgan. “Poverty in America During the 1800's.”Prezi.com, 25 Sept. 2014, prezi.com/wn-crcg8p1tr/poverty-in-america-during-the-1800s/.

Mood, Carina, and Jan O. Jonsson. “The Social Consequences of Poverty: An Empirical Test on Longitudinal Data.” Social Indicators Research, Springer Netherlands, 2016, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4863915/.

Goldman, David. “Worst Year for Jobs since '45.” CNNMoney, Cable News Network, 9 Jan. 2009, money.cnn.com/2009/01/09/news/economy/jobs_december/.

Semega, J. “UC Davis Center for Poverty Research.” What Is the Current Poverty Rate in the United States?, 2017, poverty.ucdavis.edu/faq/what-current-poverty-rate-united-states. 8

“Poverty in the United States.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Feb. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States. 9

"Poverty Impacts Rural Communities." Poverty in America, edited by Tamara Thompson, Greenhaven Press, 2015. At Issue. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, https://ezproxy.com.edu/login?url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010960206/OVIC?u=txshracd2496&xid=11e54279. Accessed 18 Mar. 2018. Originally published as "Geography of Poverty," www.ers.usda.gov, 7 July 2014.

"Unemployment Rate During the Great Depression (1929–1940) - ILLUSTRATION BY GGS CREATIVE RESOURCES...." Gale Encyclopedia of American Law, edited by Donna Batten, 3rd ed., vol. 4, Gale, 2010. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, https://ezproxy.com.edu/login?url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/PC1337787732/OVIC?u=txshracd2496&xid=a3d855d4. Accessed 12 Mar. 2018.

Vallas, Rebecca, and Melissa Boteach. “The Top 10 Solutions to Cut Poverty and Grow the Middle Class.” Center for American Progress, 17 Sept. 2014, www.americanprogress.org/issues/poverty/news/2014/09/17/97287/the-top-10-solutions-to-cut-poverty-and-grow-the-middle-class/.

“11 Facts About Global Poverty.” DoSomething.org | Volunteer for Social Change, www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-global-poverty.

PDF FILE:

https://www.bls.gov/spotlight/2012/recession/pdf/recession_bls_spotlight.pdf