The Pros And Cons Of Poverty In America

Poverty is a phenomenon that affects more than 1 billion people worldwide (Roser, 2015). It does not discriminate based upon one 's age, sex, ethnicity or the color of one 's skin. According to the United State 's census website 15.6% of people live in poverty in the United States alone. This could be due to addiction problems, health issues, natural disasters, job shortage (or loss), and various other unfortunate events. With such outstanding statistics one is left to ponder what we can do about it. Is government assistance a solution or a problem? Poverty is general scarcity, dearth, or the state of one who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money. It is a multifaceted concept, which includes social, economic, and political elements (Google definition). There are two types of poverty, absolute poverty and relative poverty. Absolute poverty is measured relative to a fixed standard of living that is consistent over time and between countries. Relative poverty on the other hand is measured relative to the living standards in some particular society and varies both over time and between societies as

Inequality exists in income, wealth, power and education. Persons who are legally and socially poor in the United states tend to stay in a cycle through life, not always by choice but because they are given fewer opportunities, education and tools to achieve success. Poverty class has a much larger income gap than the upper class, the American Dream lessens through opportunity and is shown through statistics. One in every four urban child is living in poverty. On the United States Census website there is a chart that separates the races and the percentage of each one in poverty. The highest percentage is American Indian and Alaska Native alone at around 28% and White alone and Asian alone are tied at around 11% (Macartney & etal ,