Eugent And Poverty Analysis

Nugent (2012) writes on the reasons for American Poverty. His main contingencies, that the less advantaged are in their socioeconomic position because of poor life decisions, and that government poverty programs simply perpetuate the cycle, resonate with many conservatives. Nugent argues his opinions with a major conservative slant, in a way almost ignorant of other factors. Even if he is ignorant other factors, his points on poor choices being a major cause of poverty prove at least partially true. In contrast to the apparent conservative tone of Nugent (2012), Johnson (2014) proposes a more liberal, sociological approach. He claims that American poverty stems from not just the choices of individuals, but also the capitalist system. He states that individual choices are …show more content…
They argue that poverty originates from 3 primary sources: economic issues, family structure, and ineffective government programs. According to Haskins and Sawhill, a blossoming economy alone does not guarantee a decrease in poverty: they suggest that the blossoming economy also needs to improve the unemployment rate and the wages of the unskilled. When the economy lacks these improvements, the poverty rate may suffer. They present the failing American family structure, more specifically, the growth of single parent homes, as a chief cause for the increased poverty rate. To validate their conclusion, they cite statistics from Haskins and Sawhill (2003) and Sawhill and Thomas (2001), stating if the marriage rate had held constant from 1970 to the time of publication, childhood poverty would have decreased over 25%, provided other factors were equal. After mentioning an inflation adjusted $496 billion dollar increase on poverty program spending, they state that poverty actually increased from 1968 to 2004. They propose multiple reasons for this, including rising healthcare prices and inefficient government spending on poor