The Rampant Levels of Poverty in America and How the Same is Increasing With Time - Assignment Example

9 November Assignment For the purpose of this assignment, I have worked with the topic relating to poverty in America and the two issues relate to whether the level of poverty in the country is bad and getting worse or bad and getting better with time and resources. Two very interesting articles have been selected to understand the point of view Bad and Getting Worse The main purpose of this article is to understand the rampant levels of poverty in America and how the same is increasing with time. According to a report in the Guardian, it was held that the people living in poverty in America are likely to increase in the years to come. The key question is that The USA has one of the highest poverty rates in the world and its getting worse for the nation, with a total population of almost 37 million Americans living below the official poverty line, living on less than the substantiated amount of funds required to fulfill their food, clothing and lodging needs, so how do they need to be helped? Despite efforts made by the government in countering this issue, poverty has seen to be increasing in the near future; since the time that the recession hit the country, almost 27% of the people have been living in doom. “The report warns that the numbers will continue to rise, because although the recession is technically over, its continued impact on cuts to welfare budgets and the quality of new, often poorly paid, jobs can be expected to force many more people in to poverty. It is also difficult for those already under water to get back up again.” (Geal, Chris) America has a diverse range of people living that fall under the vulnerable part of society and has not been able to recover them since the recession; this has led them to further tumble into a state of mass poverty, something they are not able to come out of. Their social security needs have not been taken care of the government on a large scale and this is leading the circle to simply grow larger. In the recent times, the country has also been hit by a large number of natural disasters like hurricanes which have caused widespread and mass levels of destruction – homes have been destroyed and what does not seem to help is the fact that it is the poor that have been targeted by this act of god more than the wealthy sections of society. Unemployment in the economy is another major issue that has led to rampant poverty; the lack of jobs in the country, despite the repeated efforts of the government and the President’s motivational speeches, have done nothing for those that fall below the poverty line and have no means of acquiring any education. Poverty thus is bad and is only getting worse because people find themselves to be trapped, more so as the job market tightens and they are not able to find themselves a proper means of earning their daily bread. They say that the country is on the verge of an economic collapse because millions of Americans have been going down from the middle class into the realms of poverty and have no means of clambering out of this economic distress. The inference is that there are many economists that state that it is the debt that the country owes to the international community that is making the people suffer so terribly and leave most Americans in the lap of poverty. Poverty is not bad and is getting better In a conflicting article, Robert Rector, who is a Fellow with the Heritage Foundation, gives a completely different view of the way poverty is perceived in the United States of America. The main purpose is to understand that he says that the definition of poverty as defined by the Census Bauru does not explain he true picture. The Census Bureau claims that 35 Million people in the Unites States are living under poverty. However, through his impeccable research, Rector has shown that out of those 35 Million people, most of them have a TV, a Fridge, basic necessities of life, education, food, a house and other important aspects to survive in basic living conditions. (U.S. Census Bureau) He claims that if we look at the definition from an international perspective then the total of American poverty ridden people is much lower than the projected number and therefore this proves that people are living in much better condition than it has been anticipated in the findings of the Census Bureau. Therefore, looking from the perspective of international standards and in terms of meeting the daily limit of poverty, it can be said that that there are much fewer Americans living under the poverty line and the situation is getting better day-by-day. United States of America is one of the richest countries in the world. It has the highest GDP of all the nations and has one of the highest Per Capita Income as well. If compared from the perspective of purchase power parity, even then the country stands in one of the top nations in the world with respect to the living standards of the people. The questions, which needs to be answered here, is whether poverty in the Unites States of America has reduced or gotten worse. In my opinion, the condition of poverty in the United States is getting better and is not worse than it was before. As mentioned before in the article, the rate or poverty in the USA is not as bad as it is shown to be. “As a group, America’s poor are far from being chronically undernourished. The aver- age consumption of protein, vitamins, and minerals is virtually the same for poor and middle-class children and, in most cases, is well above recommended norms. Poor children actually consume more meat than do higher-income children and have average protein intakes 100 percent above recommended levels.” (Rector, Robert) The above statement reflects the physical health of the children of United States and by accepting the reasoning it may be understood that the poor as perceived by the state are not exactly in a spot of bother as some people might suggest so. The Americans do have a much better living conditions than the rest for the world and therefore their standards of poverty are always going to be higher than the rest of the world as well. The major cause of poverty is private social issues pertaining in the United States. Most of the poor families have social problems such as father being absent from home and marriage issues within the family. The ‘poor’ families of the USA as classified by the Census Bureau have not seen the real poverty that pertains in the rest of the world. The living conditions of the poor outside the United States is much worse than the United States of America, and the levels of destitution is also much lower than average. The inference from the article is that the American poor are not chronically undernourished, as is the situation outside the United States. Their way of calculating the poor and the platform for arriving at statistics is much different to what the rest of the world follows. Overall, to conclude, it must be said that thought like other nations America is not in a spot of bother with respect to poverty; it does suffer with the problem much like the rest of the world. The nation has done a lot with its people to bring the levels of poverty down and in the coming days it is expected to go even down as the nation develops and grows further beyond its boundaries. In my opinion, I agree with the first article in siding with the stance that America is getting poorer day by day and the people find themselves trapped in the lap of poverty with no room to escape and make a better life for them. No matter what the political party at the center is, people in the country seem to be falling deeper and deeper into a destitute state. Most people are under the impression that the issue stems from aspects like wealth distribution and the high rates of tax in the country however, the simple crux of the matter is that since the value of the dollar is decreasing gradually, it is causing problems with respect to the entire economic infrastructure in the country. (Michael) Instead of arguing about how poverty is caused or who is the devil behind the entire problem, it must be understood that this is the current state of affairs in the country and needs to be solved immediately in order to help the people rise and grow and the basic requirements of life need to be met, that is, food, clothing and shelter. Even though the government has been taking steps to build homes for the poor, eradicate the levels of poverty by strengthening its food security programs and distributing garments among the poor, it is not enough because the number of people living in these terrible conditions is almost a 100 million with each passing day. America is definitely at a much better position than countries like India, Africa and Bangladesh where the levels of poverty are simple alarming, however if it fails to counter the problem, it might fall into a deep rut and fail to provide its people with any form of security in the future. One of the main reasons as discussed in the article is the lack of job opportunities; the Obama administration clearly mentioned that it was not going to deprive Americans of jobs and would offer the country better opportunities before giving the chance to people coming from other countries. This has clearly not worked out that well because giving someone a job also depends on merit and more people from outside America have been securing them, leading to a loss of jobs in the country. This probably leads us to imply that the level of education or the motivation among students in the country is lower as compared to in students coming from abroad and thus requires some awareness within the country. Many people are content with low paid jobs thinking that is the best the economy of the country can offer them and this is what pushes them into a perpetual level of poverty. It must also be understood that as liberal as America is, the lack of education and awareness among younger generations has not stopped them from forming families of their own. There is a very high level of teenage pregnancy in the country because of which there appear families of single parents forced to nurture their children and leave their education behind. All these aspects lead people into a state of poverty that cannot be blamed on the government. There have been a large number of governmental as well as nongovernmental efforts to reduce and eradicate the levels of poverty in the country, and even though they have begun to target specific groups of people, it is not enough due to the lack of funds. Social security programs have a vast number of loopholes in them which lead to people reaping their benefits even though they do not fall under the category of poor people which leads to a shortage of the facilities actually meant for the poor. (Snyder, Michael) The country is cut into the rural and the urban poor, both levels increasing day by day at large and at alarming rates. It is impossible for the government to take care of all of them right now, especially with the onset of natural disasters that seem to be creating a lot of unneeded havoc and more poverty. Thus, it is now the turn of the wealthy in the nation to help the poor; they must come into a sort of partnership with the government and set up funds and trusts to help those that are actually in need instead of eating away money with glory. Therefore, America will only be able to survive this terrible state of poverty and recover from it if it is able to clear off its debts and increase the valuation of the dollar with respect to other countries, like in the past. Furthermore, only when the economy is saved from this duress will the people be helped by the government and this can be achieved with the joint efforts of private parties with the government. Works Cited Michael. "100 Million Poor People In America And 39 Other Facts About Poverty That Will Blow Your Mind." The Economic Collapse. N.p., 2012. Web. 25 Nov. 2012. . Geal, Chris. "Poverty in America likely to get worse, report finds." The Guardian [UK] 11 Jan. 2012: n.pag. Web. 24 Nov. 2012. . Snyder, Michael. "15 Shocking Facts About Poverty In America." Business Insider n.d. n.pag. Web. 24 Nov. 2012. . Rector, Robert. "How Poor Is ‘Poor’?" National Review Online 13 Sept. 2012: n.pag. Web. 24 Nov. 2012. . "The 2012 Statistical Abstract - U.S. Census Bureau." Census Bureau Homepage. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2012. . Read More