Essay On Poverty In America

Poverty in America In today’s society, poverty has spread its vulturous wings over most of the known world. From the beginning of time, there have been rich people, someone in-between, and poor people. America is no different; we have our rock stars, soccer moms, and the family of six scraping together food stamps to survive another week. What really separates them and how did they get that way though? John Kenneth Galbraith and Robert B. Reich, two experts in the world of economics have expressed their ideas about why poverty is so prevalent on this Earth. They explain things differently from a socialist and capitalist point of view but they both believe that poverty has come about through circumstances acting upon an individual. Galbraith

Those in poverty are in the sinking boat, those with holes in their boat being the middle class and those going full speed ahead are the 1% (Reich 525). Reich contends with the reason why most people are in poverty from a capitalist approach. Rather than saying that people are only in poverty because of self-made inhibitions, acts of God, or other natural causes, he says that competitive economies and the individual’s purpose in these economies is the main culprit for their success or failure (516 Reich). He uses the example that routine workers in Shreveport, LA were more costly to pay vs workers in Singapore. Eventually even the Singaporeans lost out to cheaper workers in Thailand. This contrasts Galbraith’s ideals because these people worked hard and still fell victim to the surrounding economy. Reich also talks about the political involvement in poverty and the economy. He brings up the idea that when Governors and mayors allow foreign companies to build more efficient factories in their area of control that it forces Americans into poverty because they lose their jobs