Poverty is the state of being extremely poor , or as if policy makers define poverty as "being a condition in which individuals/families do not have the proper resources to meet their basic needs." Not having enough funds to acquire the things we need can indeed be frustrating for anyone. Poverty in Texas affects mostly Hispanic and African Americans , over 26 % of Hispanics and 23% of African Americans are poor in Texas.
Texas has a population of 26,340,247 million people with 4,523,708 living in poverty. Texas is the second largest state in the United States. In Texas children as well as women have the highest poverty rate. Children are much more likely to be poor if they live in a single mother home . The risk of poverty among children
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can vary from emotional challenges, psychological , and health issues. Majority of women are poor due to lack of income women are two times more likely to live in poverty than man. Lack of education and single motherhood being the leading factors for women in poverty . Lack of education decreases the amount of job opportunities and can greatly influence if a person gets a job which can lead to little or no income . Children in single-parent homes will probably encounter more hardships . For example, children raised with just a single parent will probably drop out of school, commit crime and experience difficulty keeping a job as they grow older. Crime and poverty tie hand and hand children who live in poverty are less likely to attend great schools or participate in social groups . The lack of these things causes children to have a idle mind spending more time on the streets which creates an open window to commit crime.
Perhaps the next question would be how poverty came about. According to the Texas Politics Project Texas has being suffering from poverty since the early 80's . "Texas has also had the less fortunate history since 1980 of having a larger percent of its population living in poverty than the U.S. average ". From high oil prices, Increased tax rates, and the Texas banking crisis. " The collapse of oil prices and a scattering state economy in the mid-1980s brought on a budget crisis. Texas Great Recession was also a point in society were jobs were lost, a speculative bubble in housing due to cheap credit, poor business choices and major financial crisis. "From late 2008 through 2009, 427,600 jobs were lost in Texas to the Great Recession …show more content…
" Perhaps further back to the Great Depression more than 12 million were unemployed many factors contribute to the Great Depression such as market crash, lack of credit ,unemployment and bank failures.
Causing many people to go without food and money. So what keeps poverty going ? Just to name a few taxes & regulations, people being reliant on government programs not finding ways to help themselves, and the lack of good education . Sales tax in Texas is 6 percent , taxes in Texas consist of motor fuel tax, alcohol tax, insurance tax, motor vehicle tax and a host of other taxes . Many people today living in poverty depend on low income resources such as Texas Medicaid, Texas Head Start Programs , WIC, Snap, Chip and Medicare. For instance ,"Medicare was established to provide health insurance for elderly paid for by working citizens." As well as Medicaid which helps children and people with disabilities that have low incomes. "Medicaid also provides for selected long term and support sources including home and community based services." W.I.C. is a nutrition program for women, infants and children. Many people would say these government programs help people but in actuality are contributing to poverty. When citizens depend on these programs from the government they become comfortable and complacent . So what is the solution to Poverty? There are many key points that can reduce poverty such as: creating more job opportunity, increasing wages, and more government assistance
programs. However, the main solution in my opinion would be obtaining a education. In 2001 president George Bush signed the 'No Child Left Behind' bill which influences what studies are taught to students, the preparation of their educators and the way cash is spent on training , The government should put more money into the school systems with emphasis on higher pay for teachers while implementing programs specifically for the low income and less fortunate students. Education is not only the key to better job opportunities but a better life. Studies show that "most students from higher income families have a 54% chance of completing college while student from lower income families have only a 9% chance." Being educated comes with many benefits besides receiving a high school diploma or having a college degree . Having educated citizens helps society as a whole by lowering crime, giving one an open mind to new ideas and opportunities , while being able to make better sound choices. Not only as a state but as a nation we can be on a road to end poverty by starting small going to school getting a education giving back to society, instilling good education habits into our children are all small steps to a healthier life. In the late John F Kennedys words "If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich."
Undisputedly poverty has been one of the major persistent social problems in the United States for hundreds of years. Poverty does not discriminate against Caucasians, African-Americans, Hispanics, Jews, homosexuals, heterosexuals, age, gender, or persons with disabilities. Poverty can strike any population, community, ethnic group, and family. According to the U.S Census Bureau, 43.6 million people were in poverty in 2009 which was an increase from 2008. (Insert citation for website). There are multiple causes of why a family or individual can fall into poverty, which includes but not limited to, disability, unemployment, age, and recessions, as for which we have seen through the 2008 recession and the Great Depression. Throughout this paper I will address poverty as a social problem and its causes. I will also focus on how children and family households headed by single mothers are effected by poverty, and how Temporary Assistance for Needy Families came about to help children and families in poverty.
Texas is considered a colossal state with a great potential. Students from grades K-12 even through college, under all conditions, suffer greatly on school necessities like supplies, college loans, or possibly even transportation ways. Students up in northern states have it easy on how their parents can support their needs because the fact that the economy is so much better than down in the south.
One of the main causes of poverty is a lack of money. There are some families that do have at least one person employed in the household but the money earned is not enough to provide for the family. Tough decisions such as paying rent buying groceries become a daily challenge for struggling households. Those living in households headed by people with no high school degree are the most likely to enter poverty. Limited options in the job market make it hard for those without degrees the ability to find jobs that will pay above minimum wage. Many Americans earn less than the nation’s median income which hinders most Americans from living a life free of hunger. Children who grow up in poverty suffer more persistent, frequent, and severe health problems than do children who grow up under better financial circumstances. Children of poverty are at an extreme disadvantage and cycle ends up repeating itself until the pattern is somehow
Poverty is a complex and growing problem in the United States. As of right now there is no solution. There are proposals and acts, such as Obama Care, that were enacted in an attempt to help people in poverty, and there are so many organizations, such as Habitat for Humanity and The Hunger Project, that try to aid people when they start to lack the necessities, like food and shelter. College students are graduating college with a large amount of student loans and no way of paying them off, people are being evicted from their homes, and employees are being laid off. The unemployment rate in the United States in 2015 was five percent, that’s about fifteen million people. It’s becoming difficult for people to find jobs, therefore making it hard for people to get back on their feet and start living a comfortable lifestyle. Poverty in the
Everyone knows what the word poverty means. It means poor, unable to buy the necessities to survive in today's world. We do not realize how easy it is for a person to fall into poverty: A lost job, a sudden illness, a death in the family or the endless cycle of being born into poverty and not knowing how to overcome it. There are so many children in poverty and a family's structure can effect the outcome. Most of the people who are at the poverty level need some type of help to overcome the obstacles. There are mane issues that deal with poverty and many things that can be done to stop it.
The money was cut from programs that assisted the poor, such as: Children’s Health Insurance Program and food stamps. I believe the lack of assistance programs, such as the aforementioned programs; have effectively increased poverty percentage nationwide. These programs benefit many families in poverty as providing food at low cost and insurance for the children. Other programs similar to those that provided housing for families in poverty, were also cut drastically, thus increasing the difficulty for individuals seeking to qualify for said programs. What, then, can be done differently to reduce the amount of poverty in Texas? Revenue should be increased through tourism and re-distribute its income towards industries. Texas has always been a state of tourism; many tourists come to see the river walk, the Alamo, as well as the other major cities in this State. Along with tourists, Texas has the capabilities and natural resources to attract businesses to this state. It is important to attract development and jobs to Texas, as it will benefit the state economically, while also provide more jobs and open doors to those people struggling in poverty. Increasing the industrialization of Texas may be the beginning to effectively decrease the poverty
Throughout the U.S. approximately “21 percent of kids are living in poverty” (“Child Poverty”). This shows that child poverty impacts both urban and rural populations and is crippling one out of every five children in the U.S. With poverty being so diverse and widespread this puts a lot of pressure on kids to try to escape. Also, with so many of America's kids living in poverty, it leaves a good chunk of America's population at risk for damaging effects. In another study by NCCP, they found that “42 percent of kids born into the bottom fifth of the wage class will stay there” (Frass). This shows that with so many kids in poverty that a lot of them are going to be stuck in poverty. This is an issue because serious health concerns are in place with people in poverty such as poor living conditions and inadequate food supplies. This statistic also affects children due to the fact that there is a greater chance for these kids to have children who are born into poverty, thus perpetuating the
It is no secret that, within the last decade, America has faced an economic crisis of historic proportions. Though the nation appears to be in a state of recovery from the greatest recession since the Great Depression, there are still major issues to address; namely poverty. Poverty today has hit more homes than ever, especially in places such as Eastern North Carolina. According to the 2010 Bureau of Economic Analysis, North Carolina ranked as the ninth wealthiest state with gross domestic production worth $424.9 billion.[2] North Carolina is among the top states for agricultural output, which consists of poultry, tobacco, hogs, cattle, sweet potatoes, and soybeans. A U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey, however, states that North Carolina’s poverty rate spiked to 18 percent, surpassing the official national poverty level of 15.2 percent (1). While those percentages may seem considerably small, it equates to 1.7 million people without adequate housing, health care, education or employment. This ranks North Carolina as the 12th highest poverty state in the nation. Moreover, the federal government reports that at least 20 percent of the residents of 10 Eastern North Carolina counties have consistently reported living in poverty for the past 30 years. These counties of “persistent poverty” include Bertie, Bladen, Columbus, Halifax, Martin, Northampton, Pitt, Robeson, Tyrell and Washington County.
Texas is another essential part of the south and more importantly the south’s rise to power, by using economics and analyzing the demographic landscape of this state, it is easy to tell why. In terms of economic success per household, the median household income in Texas is relatively high at 8,157,575 dollars. This is high, due to the percent of people in the workforce at 63.6%, many people have well-paying jobs in Texas. A major part that Texas and the entire nation has struggled with is the percentage of people twenty-five years or older with a high school degree, with Texas with an underwhelming 24.8% and the nation at 28.6%. This makes the percentage that have are active in the workforce that much more impressive.
“For most Americans, the word ‘poverty’ suggests destitution: an inability to provide a family with nutritious food, clothing, and reasonable shelter” (Rector, 2007). Poverty can be socially defined through severe deprivation of education, food, safe water, sanitation, and health care regardless of one’s income. The U.S. Department of Health and human Services periodically updates poverty guidelines and depending on what state you live in the guidelines range.
Axel-rod-Contrada, Joan. “Poverty in America: Cause or Effect?”. Marshall Cavendish in New York 2010: 20-29. Web.
Poverty is “the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions” (Merriam-Webster dictionary, 2015); in other words, struggling to provide a comfortable living style. It is the cause of family stress and many other problems, especially for the children. Millions of people around the world are struggling with poverty; families suffering to provide enough food seem to be growing in numbers. According to the United States Census Bureau, the poverty rate was highest in the 1960s and decreased greatly in the 1970s. However, it is now slowly starting to increase again. Recently released census data by the Bureau showed that one in five people are living in poverty (Census Bureau, 2014). Poverty is even
What is poverty? Well, according to Webster's Third New International Dictionary, poverty is "lack of money or material possessions; poor." Two-thirds of the world's population fits this definition. I know that many times we think of being poor as not being able to buy the car we want or take the trip we can only dream about. However, being poor, living in poverty, hits a lot lower than that. For example, a resident of the country of Chad will only bring in $100 each year. Since many people can make more than that in one week, some in one day, can you imagine having the feed a family of five or six, or even a family of two, on only $100 a year? These are the conditions that exist in poverty-stricken countries.
Poverty is a major problem in the United States today. Social, economical, political, and cultural factors all contribute to poverty. Education and economic development are two major issues that will help prevent poverty. The United States Census Bureau defines poverty as an "economic condition in which people lack sufficient income to obtain basic needs for food, housing, clothing, health services and education." In other words, poverty is powerlessness, a lack of representation and freedom. Poverty is an issue that the world faces everyday.
The question is, what is poverty? Poverty is about not having enough money to meet basic needs of life, including food, clothing, and shelter. Nevertheless I believe that poverty is much more that not having enough money. The World Bank Organization describes poverty as, “Poverty is hunger. Poverty is the lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty