Poverty Inequality Is Necessary For Many Reasons For Poverty

The view that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer has been heard repeatedly in reference to America’s income inequality. Though ironic, it comes as no surprise that America, a continent that easily trumps other countries in terms of wealth would be affected by the issue of poverty at such high levels. While much has said regarding the poverty levels, many economists, educators and scholars feel that the income inequality in America may be the reason why it is difficult to live and maintain a middle class lifestyle or to rise out of poverty into the middle class in the current economic state. With this in mind, the only way America, has a chance of lessening or eliminating poverty altogether is by understanding how it exists.

The last issue concerning wealth inequality is the health and well being of the lower class. The high rates of social problems: lower rates of performance in school, life expectancy, incarceration, teenage pregnancy along with health problems like obesity and heart disease are directly effected by the United States high inequality. The reason for poor school performance is that children of the lower class typically do not plan on going to college because they cannot afford it. If they do not plan on going to college, they don’t believe there is a reason to put a lot of effort and succeed in high school.

No matter which country you would look into whether it’s from wealthier to those less wealthy countries through the eyes of economics, there are bound to be types of inequity within their borders. Inequity is a very crucial problem in the United States, you would think that our economy here in the states is booming, and the citizens are living life easy or without worry. Life is the United States isn’t as it seems, in fact, Inequity is in fact a big problem even in the United States. Over the years, there has been millions of Americans that were considered to be in poor or in poverty line that are not able to provide for themselves and their families. We can sadly see those Americans on the streets, cars or shelters unable to keep-ends meet that are not able to keep a decent paying job. That is why throughout this paper I’ll be discussing why inequity is a big issue in the United States from how income is distributed through causes of income inequality, social status, and even how the government interventions is trying to alleviate income inequity.

42% of kids born in poverty will not get out. Today, more Americans are falling below the poverty line and are struggling trying to find a way to get out. The Inequality gap in America has increased for the past few decades. Resulting from Economic Inequality in America, 400 Americans share more than 50% of America’s total wealth. These 400 Americans are the Top 1%. While the Top 1% are living luxurious lives, the Bottom 99% is struggling to make ends meet. Inequality is nothing new to the United States. In fact, it is a serious problem for America’s Economy, Democracy and the Middle Class.

Income inequality in the United States has been increasing gradually as from the 20th century where there was economic stability. It is estimated that around a quarter of the American worker population receives not more than $10 in an hour. Through this condition, it creates an income that is below what the federal poverty level demands. Those who receive low income include the fast food employees, cashiers, nurse's aides and many more. Other individuals get good payments which are above $10 per hour. Wealth inequality in America is quite common as there are those who are the major economic block and those who can’t afford even the three meals in a day. The social issues that income and wealth inequality might cause in the United States include poverty, household debts becoming high, high crime rates, no health insurance for the low-income families, high mobility rates, high crime rates and school dropouts.

Poverty and inequality have virtually plagued every country on the planet, including our own wealthy, free, and developed nation. Poverty is when people lack certain resources to meet basic living requirements. Inequality can be equated as the different levels of wealth, opportunities, and resources given to different groups of people. While white people do suffer from poverty, minorities are impacted by poverty and inequality on a much larger scale. Although there are far more white Americans in our country, poverty among African Americans is almost three times the percentage of white Americans in poverty. Overall, poverty affects more than 40 million people in the United States alone. Both poverty and inequality hinder the ability of these 40 million people to provide for their family and pay for housing, food, and living necessities. From my understanding, poverty and inequality are interrelated.

Income inequality has affected American citizens ever since the American Dream came to existence. The American Dream is centered around the concept of working hard and earning enough money to support a family, own a home, send children to college, and invest for retirement. Economic gains in income are one of the only possible ways to achieve enough wealth to fulfill the dream. Unfortunately, many people cannot achieve this dream due to low income. Income inequality refers to the uneven distribution of income and wealth between the social classes of American citizens. The United States has often experienced a rise in inequality as the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, increasing the unstable gap between the two classes. The

Poverty is “the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor” (Dictionary.com, 2017). Based off this definition poverty is a condition that can cause a cascade of cause and effect actions that is detrimental to families and individuals both physically and mentally. Haan, Kaplan, & Camacho (2017) completed a study on the correlation between social and economic status and health in adults in Oakland, CA. They found that the lower the socioeconomic class the higher incidents of diseases and deaths related to chronic diseases (p.1161-1162). Just being without money or little money was not the only indication of health indication, a person living in an area with higher poverty issues

Inequality is one of the biggest problems facing our country today. The wealthiest 1% of Americans have as much financially as the poorest 50% of Americans. Many people in this country are working hard every day and are barely able to make ends meet. The voice of the poorest in this country is being ignored in favor of the voice of the wealthy. Most Americans do not desire to be poor but they are not given the chance and the resources to overcome poverty.

A major social problem in America today is its inequality of the distribution of income. "Income inequality refers to the gap between the rich and the poor. The United States has the most unequal income distribution in the industrialized world, and it is growing at a faster rate than any other industrialized country" (Eitzen & Leedham, pg. 37). The main reason as to why income is distributed so unequally is because of the gap between social classes.

In order to set the goals for millions of americans to rise up above the poverty line and to allow the country to become the prestigious title of the best in the world, one must look at the core issue which is economic class. The fabric of Capitalist America is built of primarily three classes: rich, middle and poor. The rich and middle classes are what we can say is the foundation of prosperous America but over fifteen percent and growing is the poor; however, this does not mean “that the whole

This then leads on to the idea of the deserving and undeserving poor. Many politicians believe that they should not be helping families which are getting more financial help from the government than families who are going out to work for a living, many politicians believe that people that are unemployed should receive every minimal help from the government and initiate and progress in looking for a job to support themselves and their families. However what these ideas do not support is the events that some family members who are in full time work are made redundant through no fault of their own, these are the families that should be entitled to more help than families who have no employment (Magazine, 2010).

An important issue that being unfairly under-discussed is poverty. Poverty is the state of being extremely poor. Almost 3 billion people of the world live on less than $2.50 a day. According to UNICEF almost 22,000 children die everyday due to poverty. Why is this not being discussed. There are less important issues being discussed in the world. It is not just about food it is also about education, well being, and health. Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names and Infectious diseases continue to harm the lives of the poor across. An estimated 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. Keeping people fed, educated and healthy are just basic necessities. Why are these people being severely

Great post. I liked how you discussed the individual factors such as culture, race, ethnicity, and gender that contribute to the culture of poverty. There are also the structural inequality factors of education, employment and healthcare that allow the cycle of poverty to keep on continuing. Education is important in order to find employment in this highly competitive market. If a person does not have employment a person health is in jeopardy. A great example is the different names on resumes where the resume having a more foreign sounding name was unlikely to get the job, this can be seen as a structural inequality and enforcing the cycle of poverty. People can have the drive and desire for them to achieve a higher standard

Furthermore, the consequences of inequality are pretty broad and common sense. There will always be a gap between the rich and the poor. Also known as economic inequality setting boundaries within a society. Some consequences of this inequality are stifling growth, increases in political inequality and increases in crime. Stifles growth meaning if the high level of inequality is high it will increase poverty, which will lead to escalation of crime. This will set burdens on the economy and will perhaps cause an increase in food expenses and a decrease in society’s incomes. Then the growth of the government starts to drop, which doe not affect the rich because they maintain their position. However, it greatly affects the poor. This ties to increasing economic political instability.