Monday, January 13, 2014
War on Poverty
Recently, NPR has had a host of coverage and articles regarding the 50th anniversary of Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty. This article looks at poverty in the contemporary sense, analyzing questions on what it actually means to live in poverty and dissecting how our government actually measures this concept. A recurring theme of the analysis of this anniversary tackles the question of if we've won the war on poverty? What do you think? What statistics can you find to answer this question? Do we need another war on poverty in the United States, and what would this include? How much of a federal government priority should it be to help those in financial distress?
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Hmmm, this is difficult. While poverty may be somewhat subjective, that doesn't exactly eliminate its presence by looking at it a different way. When 15% of Americans (according to US News) live below the poverty line, it's a problem that needs to be examined. Poverty can be self inflicted in a few cases, but I feel that it is the governments job to support its people. I personally think that poverty is a somewhat social problem until you get to the point where malnutrition or improper shelter are problems. Whatever the case, though, we should be ensuring that these people are not at risk with both their security and their lives. I don't think that we need to declare another "war" but if helping the impoverished means not giving tax cuts to billionaires, then I think that can be a good thing. A lot of it is really about perspective...Well that's my opinion on that!
ReplyDeleteWhen I googled "poverty statistics" I saw Mikayla's statistic that 15% of the population is under the poverty line. But then I noticed something interesting, there was no change from 2011 to 2012. This can be comprehended as either good or bad. Personally, I think it is a positive sign in America. The only way to win the war on poverty is to have the percentage of people at 0. I think the government needs to work on giving homeless and impoverished people working skills and temporary housing. Giving just money to those people will not improve their situations. I know sometimes people are at fault. It is a difficult question to answer. Like I said on previous topics, the government needs to change when things aren't working. Currently, I don't know if there is a solution to poverty available.
ReplyDeleteThe poverty level in America is high and some people may say that problem is because of illegal immigrants or the lack of jobs. But these are only excuses because if someone really wanted a better job they would go out and work for it. Yeah it isn't easy to do when you don't have a place to live or enough education to get a decent paying job. I agree with Ben on this that the government need to change or help out when people in the country are having difficult problems. But the government should only help out the people that are willing to work hard and have proven that they have been trying on their own. I think that the poverty level will drop because of many different reasons.
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ReplyDeleteAccording to the census, the poverty rate is at approximately 15%, however, I also found that the U.S. unemployment rate is at 7.3%. I was surprised to see such a significant difference. Clearly, the government doesn't view unemployment as being in poverty, however, when unemployment comes to mind financial distress does as well. I'm not sure that a war on poverty is necessary, but maybe a war on unemployment would be more effective. If there are more jobs available, there will simply be less poverty. Those who chose to be unemployed and live in poverty, I believe, the government shouldn't concern itself with people that are not willing to work hard to sustain themselves. I do believe that it is the government's job to help people that are in financial distress due to the job market and are wanting to accept a job.
ReplyDeleteWhile the poverty rate may be staying at the same percentage, it is certainly still a problem because it is not decreasing. While having another War on Poverty may be a drastic thing to do, seeing that currently our government has many other issue, the problem of poverty should be addressed and improved upon. For now, I think that not giving tax breaks to the extremely wealthy and lowering college tuition fees would be appropriate possibilities to begin to solve the issue of poverty. The point that the article made, "What we've discovered is that if you graduate during a recession, that could be a problem for you for five years, for 10 years, even after the economy has recovered, because what's happened is you've had to make compromises," is extremely valid. If somebody is not financially stable when they begin their journey off to college or into the "real world," they are definitely at a higher risk to end up in poverty because they were not able to be blessed with the same opportunities that the wealthy had. Also, I agree with Emma...addressing the issue of unemployment would eliminate many of the scenarios of poverty in our country.
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