Poverty In The United States Essay

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The social justice issue talked about in this paper is poverty in the United States. Poverty is “a human condition characterized by the sustained or chronic deprivation of the resources, capabilities, choices, security and power necessary for the enjoyment of an adequate standard of living and other civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights.” For the United States many say that poverty started during the Great Depression, but in this case 50 years ago was a very rough time for poverty in the United States. President Lyndon Johnson goal was “all-out war on human poverty and unemployment in these United States.” The War on Poverty, as the set of social programs enacted in 1964-1965. The war the article is talking about was the Vietnam …show more content…

From the research conducted, there were five reasons that play into poverty in the United States. One reason is lack of education, which I disagree with, because in the United States every student has the right to education. My personal opinion is a person has to have the drive to get a degree, they have to attend class, put in effort, and they will succeed. People could argue they couldn’t afford to attend college, but they could apply for scholarship, grants, and FASFA. The next reason is poor economy. When the economy is struggling the unemployment rate increases. In 2009 the United Sates reached 10% unemployment, but has dropped to roughly 4% over the last couple of years. The lack of affordable housing causing the poverty rate to increase. “According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, families across the country would need to earn a “housing wage” of $15.37 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment at the average fair market rent.” Without a college degree or experience the average employee doesn’t make $15.37. Drug and alcohol addiction affects about 20% of the homeless population in the United States. This is a dangerous issue that impacts poverty. This is important to humanity because if an individual addiction becomes severe enough a person could die. This issue also ties into unemployment, because if someone is known for their on going issues it could be very hard for them to find a new job. The