Poverty in America: A Global Epidemic

A globular Epidemic Ben Sims Sociology 445 Contemporary Social Problems professor Shannon Sellers August 2, 2014 Of both the social jobs that egresslast within the States today, meagerness Is doubtless the to a greater extent or less prevalent . The stigma of imp everyplaceishment Is no longer solely the lock of third world countries, but alternatively an epidemic that has vigorously manifested itself in the coupled States at an alarming site. Yes, in America, the acres teeming with an abundance of natural resources and the patents to the just nearly pioneering technological advances f modern time, Indisputably faces an precious burden of privation.It is estimated that more than 46 jillion Americans live in indigence in the US (Tighten 157). American families be increasingly finding themselves struggling to make ends meet, and with the go on rate of un battle and the rapid increases to the court of vivification more and more families are left wing to choos e between the very base necessities of sustenance such(prenominal)(prenominal) as food, tax shelter and wellnesscare. Poverty has also had a heavy shock on raising and crime, predominantly in inner-city communities where the wealth inequality is closely apparent.With on the whole the carnage caused by distress be distinctly obvious In America why Is nothing being done about It? Does anyone care? Sadly, the almost egregious aspect of the epidemic of penury in America is that it doesnt have to know at all. The US in conclusion has the resources and mean to eliminate beggary altogether, if but it was position as a high toler equal priority. To truly comprehend the profound impact that poverty has had on America, there must(prenominal) first be an understanding of what poverty essentially politics agency and how It was caused.Webster dictionary describes poverty as the state of one who lacks a usual 1 OFF Dictionary). The text however, offers a more in-depth per spective on the term stating that poverty is a regular of vivacious beneath the borderline mandatory for the maintenance of adequate diet, health and shelter (Tighten 181). This definition implies that the poverty threshold is establish on those who can make the nominal get along of money required to assert a decent aim of life and those who cannot. Although these particular descriptions of poverty are not necessarily wrong, they are also not entirely accurate.When most hatful cipher of poverty the assumption may be that the core office of those actually vitality in poverty are the planetary houseless person or unemployed, but relative to common tone most of the pile living in poverty actually put to play. They are classified as the operative poor. fit in to US Census data over 2. 6 million salutary-time workers lived be unhopeful the poverty line in 2010 (Tighten 161). How is this workable? First and foremost, the federal minimal operate requirement in the linked States is $7. 25. So for an employee who works 40 hours a calendar week t replacement total monthly salary would be $1 , 165. 0 before taxes. right away lets analyze how much it would cost for an come American earning a minimum enlist salary to pay for the 3 most Asia necessities in life food, shelter and health care. The average percentage that Americans pay in housing costs is approximately 28 to 35 percent of their take home pay (Curmudgeon, 2010). 28 percent of $1,160. 00 is $324. 80. harmonize too 2010 survey conducted by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Americans spend roughly $1 51. 00 a week on food, equaling a whopping $604. 00 a month (Mended, 2012).If we add the average monthly cost of healthcare under Beams Affordable boot Act, which is $328. 00 (Persuade, 2014), the total monthly expenses for Just the radical necessities alone is a staggering $1 ,256. 0. The basic necessities alone total more than the average worker, earning minimum wage, in America makes in a month and that convention legato doesnt account for utility bills, exaltation and other miscellaneous expenses. Not to reference point the addition of a spouse or children. It is important to understand that poverty is a very complex social dilemma, with a variety of unfounded stereotypes that persist about its causes.One of the most common misconceptions about poverty is that the poor inherently cause their deliver poverty, alluding to the poor having a lack of take away and ambition necessary to change heir pecuniary status. This perception is often referred to as the person-blame nest . This means that social problems such as poverty are the go away of the pathologies of individuals (Tighten 163). Although this notion is credible, in this particular slip, it is roughly off kilter due to that detail that dismantle though 2. Million people go to work and log over 40 hours a week they stillness wont surpass the threshold of even half of the nations median salary . And therein lies the problem. The issue is not whether members of society are willing to work, because not hardly are a absolute mass f the poor willing and able to work hard, they do so when presumption the opportunity. The real root of the problem is the minimum wage requirement in the US and the lack of access to adequate instruction and training necessary to require better-paying stage businesss.The system-blame approach is more fitting in this instance because there is no shortage of people willing to work but rather a shortage in the amount that is being paid out for state work. There is also no shortage in people willing to fasten and utilize the sufficient training and education needed to attain better employment but underprivileged. Although the political science has in occurrence tried to implement programs to solve the problem of poverty in America, more of these programs contained of the essence(p) flaws and in many cases make the troth worse. Welfare is t he most notable of these programs.Welfare was conventional to assist underprivileged families and individuals get out of poverty (Tighten 165), but have last led to a disturbing rate of dependency. Instead of assisting families welfare had essentially enabled them in many ways, with a vast majority of recipients not feeling the need to work. aliment thin the program even made it easier to stay on welfare than to strain employment and encouraged unmarried adult female to have children. Thus, the enactment of the Welfare mitigate Act of 1996. This bill was established to write out the number of families and individuals dependent on politics assistance.These institutional changes helped to reduce welfare dependency by mandating that recipients actively sample work while receiving government assistance, increasing the direct of accountability for those in need of fiscal aid. The government also developed several(prenominal) other programs in an effort to curvature poverty suc h as the temporal Assistance to Needy Families program (TANK) which issues financial assistance to low-income families but also requires them to work at least 20 hours a week to receive benefits (Saddler, 2012).Addition services such as Medicaid, Food Stamps and WICK were all established to essentially assist low-income families contact financial stability while progressively becoming independent of all government aid. Although these programs and institutional amendments have been extremely expensive in assisting the poor and underprivileged advance a sustainable level of life, alas they havent been enough to end or even cut the poverty level in Alfa.These programs have ultimately helped sustain the world(a) threshold of poverty in many ways by serving to only assist low-income families get through financial difficulties instead of helping them get out. The only way for members of the underprivileged society to come above poverty is to furnish the means to earn more than the nations median income. This goes dorsum to the need for programs that assist individuals in acquiring the knowledge and training necessary to acquire higher paying Jobs and also for the government to raise the minimum wage requirement.Perhaps the most compelling explanation for the persistence of poverty is the remarry of private profit. The basic rule of capitalism is who gets what is determined solely by private profit rather than incorporated need (Tighten 173). By private corporations accentuate the theory of maximizing profits they ultimately end up endorsing poverty. This is done by companies paying their workers the minimum amount attainable including benefits and pocketing the wealth that was created by laborers and distributing it among the owners instead of the working class.Primacy of profit also endorses poverty by employing a bevy of uneducated and grand laborers who are eager to work for low engage. Many of these laborers are illegal immigrants and dont take hold of having benefits as a necessity. This in device makes it extremely profitable for owners of businesses and large corporations to betroth these workers because of the amount of money that they will be able to save while still being able to employ laborers full time.Poverty is supported and maintained through my belief that the US government has made attempts to wrench the impact of poverty, I believe that the United States has the power to end poverty all together. This can be accomplished by making poverty a surmount priority. The United States spends roughly 712. Billion dollars of our nations defense each year (Tighten 177). A percentage of that figure can be deducted and contributed to set upon poverty without Jeopardizing our nations defense at all.This particular money could be used to provide adequate schooling and fund programs that kick upstairs academic advancement in inner-city communities. Those monetary resource could also be used to provide training semi nars for individuals with limited education who seek higher paying Jobs and wish to be more competitive candidates in todays Job market. Most importantly however, those funds could be used to raise the federal minimum wage requirement to a level that allows ore people to earn above or at least earn wages comparable to the nations median salary.