U.S. Federal Poverty Threshold: an Imprecise Measure
U.S. Federal Poverty Threshold: An Imprecise Measure
The advancement of civilization has brought about enormous change in the way humans live, and the leading nations have found astute ways to adapt to these changes. The United States of America, established as the undisputable leader of the modern world, has served as the innovator of many important guidelines that aid in structuring the governance of society. One of the major problems every nation faces in its moral, political, and legal discussions is the fate of its most impoverished citizens. As a most fundamental starting point, nations must find a measurable indicator of poverty. The United States government initially established a measure of official poverty in 1965 in conjunction with the U.S. Census Bureau. Defined as a minimum amount of income that American households need to subsist, it was first based on the finding that the median family in the mid-1950s spent about one-third of its income on food. That figure was then tripled to account for expenditures on all other goods and services. This constituted the threshold to measure poverty and determine the number of poor people. Anyone below the threshold was to legally be considered poor. Since its inception, the poverty threshold has been adjusted each year only for inflation. The importance of an accurate poverty measure is critical in the efforts of a civilized society to rid itself of poverty, to recognize its own deficiencies, to better allocate resources, to reduce the growing gaps between income levels, and to better aid those who live in dire conditions. In addition, Federal poverty guidelines determine eligibility for many private and government programs for low income families. The current federal poverty measure needs to change, since it might severely underestimate the number of poor citizens and deny local aid to millions of low-income workers who currently do not qualify. The components reflected in the United States poverty measure
The advancement of civilization has brought about enormous change in the way humans live, and the leading nations have found astute ways to adapt to these changes. The United States of America, established as the undisputable leader of the modern world, has served as the innovator of many important guidelines that aid in structuring the governance of society. One of the major problems every nation faces in its moral, political, and legal discussions is the fate of its most impoverished citizens. As a most fundamental starting point, nations must find a measurable indicator of poverty. The United States government initially established a measure of official poverty in 1965 in conjunction with the U.S. Census Bureau. Defined as a minimum amount of income that American households need to subsist, it was first based on the finding that the median family in the mid-1950s spent about one-third of its income on food. That figure was then tripled to account for expenditures on all other goods and services. This constituted the threshold to measure poverty and determine the number of poor people. Anyone below the threshold was to legally be considered poor. Since its inception, the poverty threshold has been adjusted each year only for inflation. The importance of an accurate poverty measure is critical in the efforts of a civilized society to rid itself of poverty, to recognize its own deficiencies, to better allocate resources, to reduce the growing gaps between income levels, and to better aid those who live in dire conditions. In addition, Federal poverty guidelines determine eligibility for many private and government programs for low income families. The current federal poverty measure needs to change, since it might severely underestimate the number of poor citizens and deny local aid to millions of low-income workers who currently do not qualify. The components reflected in the United States poverty measure
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