Poverty And Poverty

Poverty itself is a controversial and widely debated issue with a variety of opposing viewpoints. Despite differences in opinions on how poverty should be treated, the vast majority agrees that poverty is a problem plagues the nation on both economic and social levels. Economically, poverty affects everyone. As taxes are paid by the entire nation, poverty influences where our money goes and how it is spent. Socially, poverty affects families and individuals on an emotional level. Impoverishment affects happiness and health, the decisions people make, and most importantly the development of children. To best understand poverty, one must look at the issue economically and socially, and contextualize the numbers surrounding poverty as well as

This comparison shows how poverty levels, in recent years, are plateauing with around 15% of the population living below the poverty line. The perpetuation of this issue suggests that poverty, unlike a recession or a brief economic downturn, is a persistent issue that continually affects our global society. But what does poverty or impoverishment mean? The definition of poverty is more than a simple state of hardship but rather a time economic turmoil. The specific poverty threshold varies from state to state but on average is $12,082 for one person and $24,257 for a family of four (2012 US Census Bureau). For the individual living alone, the poverty line would mean living on about $30 a day; for the family of four, the poverty line would mean about $16 a day per person. And with this daily dollar amount, people must pay for housing, gas, electricity, heating, food, child care, education fees and more. By looking how much needs to be paid and how little they actually have, it becomes clear how their lives are a struggle for basic survival. Poverty tends to affect certain demographics of people more than others. Amongst ethnic groups, poverty rates are highest amongst Black Americans at 24% with Hispanic Americans following at 21%

While in some cases this may be true, to understand poverty as a whole, one must consider the fact that many impoverished people actually work full time and do their best to live healthy and productive lives. This is one of the major reasons why government welfare programs exist, to aid and work with the poor to help individuals and families achieve economic stability. One of the nation’s largest anti-hunger program is SNAP – Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program. SNAP, which is run by the US Department of Agriculture, has two central focuses: to teach and to assist. SNAP works with state agencies, schools, and organizations to help educate people on how to make healthy decisions and live healthy lives. This program broadly assists individuals and households with low or no income by providing a monthly allotment that can be used to purchase food. This money, often given in the form of an "Electronic Benefits Transfer" card, can be used in grocery stores to buy groceries. However, SNAP tightly restricts what can and cannot be purchased with SNAP money. The list of prohibited items includes hot foods, food that will be eaten in stores, alcohol, household supplies, pet food and more (FNS website). While SNAP helps about 44,000,000 people or 22,000,000 households on a yearly basis, the benefits are limited and heavily regulated by the government (FNS website). Another