Poverty in the United States - Research Paper Example

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the topic of poverty in America. The numbers are staggering as more people in America are suffering from hunger. “In 2010, 48.8 million Americans lived in food insecure households, 32.6 million adults and 16.2 million children” (Feedingamerica, 2011). More than 15% of the population is facing poverty. There are lots of factors that are causing a lower standard of living. Two of those factors are inflation and unemployment. A sector that is facing major inflationary forces is healthcare.

The prices of food items are also on the rise. The recession of 2008 might be over in economic terms, but in social terms the reality is much different. The U.S. unemployment rate in November 2011 was 8.6% (Bls, 2011). America used to have a booming job market that always hovered around 5%. The service sector contributes about 80% of the job marketplace. America has become a knowledge economy. Many people that never went to college are facing tough challenges due to the shortage of unskilled labor jobs.

Poverty causes a lot of social problems such as alcoholism and drug abuse. People feel frustrated with their current life and they look for an escape in the wrong places. Poverty is not equally distributed among races. The race that faces the worst economic outlook is Afro-Americans. The poverty of Afro-Americans nearly doubles that of White people and the global population of poor people Blacks account for 22.5% of all poor people (Washingtoninformer, 2010). Over a quarter of African-Americans are living in poverty.

Racial profiling is a problem Black people faced as they are discriminated by the police. Due to the high poverty levels many poor people turn to criminality as a way to support themselves. The drug game is the number one generator of illegal jobs in the world. Due to its proximity to the U.S. border a lot of drugs come into the U.S from Mexico and Canada. Poverty is on the rise in the America due to the fact that everything is becoming more expensive and incomes are not rising at the same rate of the cost of living.

The minimum salary law is a joke since it is extremely hard for a person to survive on $7.25. That salary is barely enough to pay rent on an apartment in the United States. Strong family support is helping poor people survive in these turbulent financial times. Many people that lost their homes had nowhere to live, but their families helped them get back on their feet by providing shelter. Others in America are not so fortunate. There are millions of homeless people in the United States. In 2010 at some point in time there were 1.

6 million homeless people struggling through the streets of America (Pugh, 2010). Nobody deserves to be homeless. It is estimated that 40% of homeless people in America are either psychiatric patients or veterans of wars. America is turning its back of the underprivileged and on those people that sacrificed their lives to protect our freedoms. There is an inequity in the wealth of America. Despite being a democracy the U.S government must play a more active hand in the battle against poverty. If this means taking from the rich to give to the poor then let it be.

The tax system of the United States should be more severe for people making income above $100,000. Nobody likes taxes, but they are an effective mechanism to redistribute income. The