FREE ESSAY ON EFFECTS OF POVERTY

EFFECTS OF POVERTY

The Effects of Poverty in Our World
All over the world, disparities between the rich and poor, even in the wealthiest of
nations is rising sharply. Fewer people are becoming increasingly "successful" and
wealthy while a disproportionately larger population is also becoming even poorer. There
are many issues involved when looking at poverty. It is not simply enough (or correct) to
say that the poor are poor due to their own (or their government's) bad governance and
management. In fact, you could quite easily conclude that the poor are poor because the
rich are rich and have the power to enforce trade agreements, which favor their interests
more than the proper nations. This is a very serious problem in our society today.
Poverty is everywhere and it needs to reduced so that our economy will be more stabilized
and balanced that it has been. 
What does it mean to be poor? What does it mean to describe a nation as "developing"? A
lack of material wealth does not define one as deprived. A strong economy in a developed
nation does not mean much when a significant percentage or a majority of the population
is struggling to survive. Development usually implies an improvement in living standards
such that a person has enough food, water, and clothing, a stable social environment,
freedom, and basic rights to have a fair chance for a decent life. Is this actually
progress? On the other hand, are we fooled into believing that it is? 
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services placed the poverty level for a family of
four at $16,450 in 1998, and the poverty rate in 1996, according to the HHS, was 13.7
percent, or 36.5 million Americans. (Egendorf: 1999, 12). Is there really a way to
measure poverty, and to decide exactly what poverty is? Hunger, income level, housing and
the economy's condition of the working poor are just a few example of what needs to be
considered when measuring the poverty levels in our nation. Poverty expands and contracts
and its definition changes in accordance with temporary exigencies, including the
interests of those who propound the definitions do the counting, which means that there
is no concrete definition of poverty, except for the numbers. (Valentine: 1968, 13). 
Poverty is not something that has just recently become an issue; it has been around for
many years. The economy has been a major influence on the levels of poverty in our
nation. In 1973, poverty increased because then the economy worsened. Real wages and
productivity decreased, and the economy could not grow fast enough to absorb the large
number of potential workers, which caused unemployment to increase (Katz: 1989, 154).
Ever since then our government has tried to reduce the poverty in our nation, and so far
has had a hard time. In 1996, Bill Clinton addressed the welfare bill, and that resulted
in an estimated one million children being thrown into poverty (Egendorf: 1999, 19).
However, assistance from the Government has also been helpful. Programs such as Social
Security, Food stamps, housing assistance are safety nets that has helped lower the 
high risk of poverty. Without these added benefits, people would be a lot worse than they
are now. The safety net programs reduced the child poverty rate from 24% before the
benefits were counted down to 16% (Egendorf: 1999, 19). Supplemental Security income,
local general assistance, and earned income tax credits have also been popular components
of income in the United States (Lynn, McGeary: 1990, 235).
Education levels are not as high in urban areas, which means that the people who are
living in these areas are not qualified for the high paying jobs. High skilled jobs are
beyond the reach of those who live in areas of concentrated poverty, and those who are
going for the high skilled jobs, are finding their way out of these areas of concentrated
poverty. Higher standard of living also attracts immigrants, which makes it hard for
people living in urban areas to find good paying jobs, because the immigrants will work
for lower wages. 
What about the myth that America is the land of opportunity? With such a high standard of
living, many believe this is not true (Shein: 1998, 13). Those who work hard and have the
opportunity to be financially successful are rewarded with healthy, enjoyable lifestyles,
while those who are disadvantaged and cannot receive these opportunities are punished and
miserable. Disadvantaged does not mean those who are on welfare, or those who are too
lazy to find work. People who have disabilities that make it hard for them to find jobs,
and those that are born into poverty, who cannot escape it, must be tortured and remain
helpless until a solution to this social problem is reached. In America, only 1% of the
people own 50% of the wealth, 20 % of our children live in poverty, and a half a million
people are homeless (Shein: 1998, 13). It is statistics like this that says our economic
system depends on inequality in order to survive. How would this world be if the wealth
were evenly spread out for all to share? What would we do without poverty? Our society
has been deeply divided for so long that I think change would be too difficult to handle.
An example of this is " In 1985, 2 million adults worked full time throughout the year,
yet they and their families remained in poverty (Katz: 1989, 243). However, the wealthy
kept working all year long, and they became wealthier.
There are class systems to separate races, sex, and gender, but there is also a class
system that distinguishes between the rich and the poor. These five classes consist of:
1. Upper/Capitalist-which are the wealthy, 2. Upper/Middle Class-which are the
professionals, 3. The middle class-white collar, 4. The working class-semi-skilled
workers and, 5. The chronically poor. So not only are people classified by their race,
and gender, but they are also classified by their income and the type of lifestyles that
they obtain. 
The conflict theory states that poverty is a side effect of the capitilist system, where
those with access to resources and power exploit those who don't have the same type of
access to maximize their profit. This results in employers paying their employees lower
wages, and giving them the least amount of benefits possible. A surplus of laborers
decreases the wages that each employee receives, and if the employers make investment
decisions, without regard for the employees, then they are reducing costs for themselves
and hurting their employee's salaries. 
Poverty is a very unfortunate lifestyle to have to suffer from. By saying that they have
to suffer from it, I mean that they have no choice. There have been no successful
solutions to this ongoing social problem, and our government has made many attempts. 
However, they have not given up. The people who are living on the streets may be
unimportant to those with no financial limits, but they have not been forgotten.
According to the World Bank, the international plan to reduce poverty by half was
originally supposed to be reached by the year 2015, but the high number of poor people is
high, and they are spread out everywhere. The developing states are trying to recover,
but the financial crisis' that have occurred have stunned the growth and opportunities
that we are supposed to be facing. The conflict theory is not a solution to the problem
of poverty; it is enabling it and making it harder to recover from. To start to reach a
solution to this problem, I think that there should be more opportunities for those who
are not able to receive the proper education and training to receive the good paying
jobs. I think that employers should offer specialized training to employees so that they
can further their knowledge of different position so that they will be able to move up in
their companies. I also think that unemployment agencies should provide on the job
training as part of the careers that they offer so that employees can learn a wide
variety of skills incase one job doesn't work out. 
I know that whatever it takes to reduce the levels of poverty in our world, it will be a
long, slow process. I think that if our nation sticks with it and does not give up,
eventually our country will be known as the "Land of Opportunity" again. With the
developing of countries, and the growth of population, there is going to be an increase
in 
the amount of opportunities that will be available. Not every single person who is
suffering from poverty will be motivated to take advantage of these opportunities, but
the people who do, will greatly benefit from these arising chances at a new way of
living. Hopefully, society will view those who suffer at the hands of poverty in a less
discriminating way. Our nation must realize that because they may be poor, does not mean
that they don't deserve they same chances in life and are less of a human than those who
have financial freedom. 
Bibliography
Works Cited
1. Valentine, Charles A. CULTURE AND POVERTY. Thee University of Chicago Press, 1968.
2. Engendorf, Laura K. POVERTY, OPPOSING VIEWPOINTS. Greenhaven Press, 1999.
3. Lynn, Laurence E, and McGeary, Michael G.H. INNER CITY POVERTY IN THE UNITED STATES,
National Academy Press, 1990.
4. Shein, Lori. INEQUALITY-OPPOSING VIEWPOINTS IN SOCIAL PROBLEMS. Greenhaven Press,
1998.
5. Katz, Michael, THE UNDERSERVING POOR. Pantheon Books, 1990.