Week 6 Final Assignment Rohr
Poverty in the United States: Is There a Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow?
Michelle Rohr
October 27, 2014
Poverty in the United States: Is there a Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow?
Poverty has become a worldwide epidemic. It affects people of various ages, races, sex, and background. The causes are of many and the antidote seemingly impossible. Poverty has been of concern for many decades within the United States and other countries. There have been numerous attempts to resolve the issue with very little, if any, resolution. In the United States, it seems that the majority of people work very hard, but despite these efforts cannot seem to get ahead financially. Given this day and age, poverty should be nearly obsolete with the resources provided to the people within the United States. It is essential that better legislation and programs are established to decrease the enormous gaps in income inequality among people.
Poverty is an unfortunate situation for many. “Traditionally, poverty has been understood as a condition of severe deprivation – a condition that was more than inconvenience and which was likely to have adverse consequences for physical efficiency and well-being” (Sarlo, 2007, p.6). This paper will focus on the statistics of age, race and sex demographics that it affects in the United States, in addition to the many causes that can bring about this situational lifestyle. These causes include, but are not limited to recessions, substance abuse, the lack of employment, wage inequality, population increases, and the declining health of poverty stricken people. The lasting effects of poverty will also be examined to attain a better understanding of the various stakeholders that influence this issue. It is with this information that the possible solutions to resolve this dire living situation can be derived in order to establish a better means to equality in the United States.
The statistics are staggering. The current monetary median per
Michelle Rohr
October 27, 2014
Poverty in the United States: Is there a Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow?
Poverty has become a worldwide epidemic. It affects people of various ages, races, sex, and background. The causes are of many and the antidote seemingly impossible. Poverty has been of concern for many decades within the United States and other countries. There have been numerous attempts to resolve the issue with very little, if any, resolution. In the United States, it seems that the majority of people work very hard, but despite these efforts cannot seem to get ahead financially. Given this day and age, poverty should be nearly obsolete with the resources provided to the people within the United States. It is essential that better legislation and programs are established to decrease the enormous gaps in income inequality among people.
Poverty is an unfortunate situation for many. “Traditionally, poverty has been understood as a condition of severe deprivation – a condition that was more than inconvenience and which was likely to have adverse consequences for physical efficiency and well-being” (Sarlo, 2007, p.6). This paper will focus on the statistics of age, race and sex demographics that it affects in the United States, in addition to the many causes that can bring about this situational lifestyle. These causes include, but are not limited to recessions, substance abuse, the lack of employment, wage inequality, population increases, and the declining health of poverty stricken people. The lasting effects of poverty will also be examined to attain a better understanding of the various stakeholders that influence this issue. It is with this information that the possible solutions to resolve this dire living situation can be derived in order to establish a better means to equality in the United States.
The statistics are staggering. The current monetary median per
References: Froehlich, J. (2005). Steps toward dismantling poverty for working, poor women. Work, 24(4), 401-408. Harper, C.L. & Leicht, K.L. (2011). Exploring social change: America and the world (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN: 9780205748082 Meyer, B. D. & Sullivan, J. X.(2012). Winning the war: Poverty from the great society to the great recession. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 2012(2), 133-200. Brookings Institution Press. Retrieved October 26, 2014, from Project MUSE database. PR, Newswire. (2014, September 16). Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2013. PR Newswire US. Sandoval, D., Rank, M., & Hirschl, T. A. (2009). The increasing risk of poverty across the American life course. Demography, (4), 717. Sarlo, C. (2007). Measuring poverty – what happened to copenhagen?. Economic Affairs, 27(3), 6. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0270.2007.00749.x Thompson Jr, R. G., Wall, M. M., Greenstein, E., Grant, B. F., & Hasin, D. S. (2013). Substance-use disorders and poverty as prospective predictors of first-time homelessness in the United States. American Journal Of Public Health, 103(S2), S282-8. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2013.301302 U.S Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau. (2014). Income and poverty in the United States: 2013. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2014/demo/p60-249.pdf