Mark R. Rank Poverty

According to Dr. Mark R. Rank, best-selling author and professor of social welfare at Washington University, the problem of poverty is more widespread and diverse than the images displayed by the media portray. Rather than being an issue affecting few people over the long-term, Dr. Rank proposes that many are affected by the hardships of poverty over short periods of time. Through proposing a moderate claim and well-informed acknowledgements emphasizing the widespread problem of poverty and employing logical reasoning to support his claim, Dr. Rank provides a slight foundation for his hypothesis. Unfortunately, due to vague reasons and unsound evidence, as well as unavoidable warrants, Dr. Rank’s argument lacks much of the credibility necessary …show more content…
Rank is that poverty affects specific people over short periods of time, in all neighborhoods, and to all ethnic groups. However, he emphasizes that, through his research, he discovered that poverty mainly affects people outside of the inner city, urban landscape. He also states that most of the people below the poverty line are actually white. According to my research, the Kaiser Family Foundation, one of the foremost sources of information concerning American family health and wellness issues, released statistics stating that according to the American census in 2012, only 13% of all people below the poverty line are white, leaving the other 87% of all people to be non-white (“Poverty Rate by Race…”). Not only are his statistics invalid, he also alludes to the assumption that most Americans place specific races and people groups into categories according to income and status. Furthermore, according to the 2012 Census, since the year 2000, the poverty rate has increased by over fifteen million people, or 3.7 percent (Poverty: 2000-2012). While this does prove that the overall poverty rate is much more widespread than we think, it also proves that the poverty rate does not change overtime for the better, illustrating the fact that more times than most, people struggle with poverty for long periods of time. Luckily, the author does acknowledge that some struggle with poverty long term, but where he falls short is in saying that this case is …show more content…
Rank’s third and least purposeful reason deals with the fact that the issues with personal poverty stem from the government, rather than from the people themselves. This reason is most problematic in the fact that it directly contradicts the rest of his argument. Through stating this purpose, Dr. Rank directly acknowledges that the government is a necessary factor in overcoming the problem of poverty. He also presents the assumption that most of what the government is doing to end poverty is wrong. As I stated earlier, Dr. Rank blatantly blames the issues of the impoverished people upon themselves rather than the government, claiming poverty to be a societal issue rather than a governmental issue. However, he spends the final third of his argument focusing directly upon the issues in the government, acknowledging the fact that the government does not have the solutions to our problems. He even goes as far to add statistics as evidence that verifies the fact that our government-funded health care, childcare, and housing are all roots to the overall problem of poverty in American society. Furthermore, he states, “poverty is ultimately a result of failings at economic and political levels rather than individual.” This statement proves that he believes the government is a key reason, if not the primary reason, behind American poverty, directly negating his statement that poverty is “an issue of us, rather than an issue of them.” This decision is not only illogical, but it