Poverty

Poverty has been an issue in the United States for years. "The United states produces more per capita than any other industrialized country, and in recent years has devoted more than $500 billion per year, or about 12 percent of its gross national product, to public assistance and social insurance programs like Social Security, Medicare, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), food stamps, and Medicaid." (Sawhill) This issue, no matter how much money is spent, seems to not go away. As long as there are humans on this earth, poverty will exist.

The government measures poverty in two ways. Those are either by poverty thresholds or by poverty guidelines. The most commonly used measurement is poverty thresholds. The Census Bureau develops such thresholds. For an example if your income for the year is below $50,000, you are considered poor. Thresholds are also used to classify a people (race) by their earning potential, living conditions, etc. The other way to measure poverty was developed by the Department of Health and Human Services. They use their guidelines to see if a person if a person or their family qualifies for government assistance.

Poverty cannot be blamed on one specific cause. "There are numerous perceived direct and indirect causes of poverty in the United States." ("Poverty") They are but are not limited to:

Ð'* Mental illness and disability

Ð'* Substance abuse

Ð'* Lack of/Poor education

Ð'* Crime

Ð'* Racism

Ð'* Limited jobs

The main two reasons I believe poverty exist is because of a lack of/poor education and racism. Back in the day, African Americans were not allowed to go to school and if they did, they really weren't taught anything.