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Pros And Cons Of Poverty In America

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Living in America means that you are living in one of the most prosperous countries in the world. Knowing that, why is poverty such a huge percentage of where we live? Poverty in America is not just the people we detect on the streets begging for anything possible. Poverty in America consists of families working minimum wage jobs just to keep clothing for their children and a roof over their head. Poverty in America consists of living in a community where education isn’t up to standards. Poverty in America consists of being reliant on welfare to afford rent. Many Americans do not realize the percentage of individuals and families that are barely surviving because of their class. Class based exploitation needs to be terminated prior to any other form of oppression simply because too many families are suffering and cannot seem to barricade the poverty line. …show more content…

America has a class system, meaning that there are chances of movement upward or downwards between strata. Since the United States offers opportunities of breaking out of poverty or out of the working class, some believe that people in those two stratas should utilize these opportunities. It is not that simple. A majority of the poor and working class are doing everything in their power to work enough to get a promotion or a higher paying job but there are boundaries. There are boundaries on upward mobility and there is only a “20% chance you will move out of poverty ever” (Butler-Sweet). There is minimal opportunity given to the poor in America, regardless of America being known as the country that provides equal opportunity for everyone to succeed. People from all over the world immigrate to America, specifically because they are given these opportunities. Immigrants often find out that there is little to no social movement if you are not educated or were born into a lesser

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The book The American Way of Poverty: How the Other Half Still Lives enhanced my understanding by reading on Abramsky explore poverty in the United States over a fifty year period. His detailed perspective on how poverty, social attitudes, and public policy have changed over the years. It was also helpful that Abramsky studied all over the United States and didn’t only research a few states. He looked at inner cities to rural areas, as well as, families suffering from intergenerational poverty. All in all, this is a good read if you are concerned about the current state of our

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As a reader reads Barbara Ehrenreich’s book Nickel and Dimed on (Not) Getting by in America, they get an insight on what it is like to live a low income life. Ehrenreich proposes the argument in the introduction that poverty is a serious matter and just because one has a job does not mean they are not considered poor. She wants to persuade us to realize that American is not the land of opportunity as promised and portrayed and there are regular people who are struggling to live a comfortable life. Throughout her book she mentions her experiences with living on minimum wage, the hiring process, and how she felt being put in that position. After reading Ehrenreich’s book I am thoroughly persuaded.

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David K. Shipler’s The Working Poor: Invisible in America describes the low-income Americans face. He notes that they are both impacted by the social, political and economic environment in which they live and a cause of their own poverty. Shipler makes his point through conversations with the working poor, their employers and those who are trying to help them break the cycle of poverty. He successfully argues that the solution to the problems faced by this group is that everyone needs to work together, government, private organizations and the working poor themselves, to change what is wrong with the system. But while his point is valid, the book, which claims to be objective in terms of its politics is not, and Shipler’s “us” versus “them”

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a. This work can be used as a source to add in chapter 11 of the book since it delves more deeply into why there is poverty in America. b. The author 's main goal is to inform people as to how poverty occurs, to whom it occurs to, who is affected and ways to prevent it. c. The lack of viable opportunities for all Americans.

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Poverty in America         Poverty in the United States is a serious problem including all races. Black people have a higher poverty percentage than other races. The book The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore himself explains his teenage life growing up in poverty and all the struggles he had to face as a black kid. Statistics show that the poverty rates for blacks according to 2015 is up to 24% and that number keeps increasing into 2016 (Jones 1). Most people say that it's black people's own fault that they have high poverty rates, and there is more in depth explanation for why black people have a very high percent of poverty compared to other races.

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It's not just about working hard how the old American myth states. The other side would say that it's society's fault for so many people being poor in America. It's all really personal responsibility. In The working poor by David K Shipler goes over the traits on must have to be successful in America.

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Overall, poverty class barriers show up everywhere. The Gallagher family in “Shameless” is a good example of this because they are very poor and most of the siblings end up dropping out of high school or not amounting to much within their lives. They are never truly able to get away from having this status, and it is truly sad because they represent actual families in the real world struggling with this everyday. Money is the true root of all evil, whether you have it or don’t have it there are still issues that show up in your

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Bernie Sanders once said “A nation will not survive morally or economically when so few have so much, while so many have so little”. In our society, many people experience inequalities, including racial inequality, gender inequality, and economic inequality. These social inequalities create institutionalized social barricades that most times, cannot be solved without some sort of policy that advocates equity. Inequality means that people have little or unequal access to resources such as education, housing, health care, politics, and many more. It also means that people are treated unequally by society.

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Poverty is affecting billions of people around our world and the number is growing with each day. Many people think they can avoid the effects of poverty, but it is something that affects all of our daily lives. Many people see poverty as a person who lacks money, although this is true poverty is caused by many more things than being without money. Just the fact that one in two children live in poverty can help people see clearly the impact it has on our world. Poverty truly does influence the type of care and treatment a person will receive when they need it.

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During the late 19th century and early 20th century there were many rumors that America was the “land of opportunity”. Millions of people emigrated from Europe and Asia to America. However, the Chinese were banned from entering the country in 1882 due to the Chinese Exclusion Act. There was a difference between the old immigrants and the new immigrants. Old immigrants came from northern or western Europe, they assimilated quickly, they were Protestant, and they arrived with some money.

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Even though around $35 billion was put into the country from 2002-2009. Even the nuber one cause of death is poverty. There was a movie titled “The pursuit of Happyness” made in 2006 which explores the idea of extreme poverty in the states. The movie is about a man named Chris Gardner ( played by Will smith) and his son Christopher ( Played by Jaden Smith) who becomes extremely poor as well as homeless so he has to try to get back on top of things. Although, the movie never says why he is poor we can infer.

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American history is built on affairs regarding freedom and equality, but negative issues thought to be conquered in the past have also become present day problems. When confronting controversial social, economic, and political topics in America today, the line between fact and opinion blurs. People across the country develop their own views on national issues, based only on personal experience and what the media tells them. Whether it be intention or ignorance, Americans are not supplied with enough information to accurately confront the major, national problems that lie just inside this country’s borders. Americans are unaware of slavery and socioeconomic issues that exist around them, which in turn presents a concern when trying to combat

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Poverty can be a vicious cycle for some families that goes from generation to generation. Another personal issue that can lead to poverty is illness and unemployment which puts someone out of work and there is little to no income coming in. Along with these personal issues that I stated there are also many

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Poverty in America is a difficult topic to speak on; everyone has their own views and experiences on poverty. Certain social trends have impacted the society such as Family Dynamics; The way families are now are a lot different than families of the 1950’s-1960’s, In many cases both adult members of the family are working instead of the traditional husband working to support the family. Even with both members working full time it is still hard to support an average family due to working class wages not adjusting to inflation. Poverty has been increasing at a dramatic rate and the government is supporting more and more people with perverse incentives.

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That is almost 10% of the whole population. There are many reasons that cause poverty in America. The lack of jobs that are available for people with a low education. People can’t get the education they need because colleges are too expensive. Statistics have also proven that alcohol and drug addiction affect about 20% of the homeless.

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