Poverty In Iceland Essay

The Oxford Dictionary defines poverty as the state of being inferior in quality or insufficient in amount; extremely poor. John Iceland explains the views of poverty in America since its discovery until now, and also how it is at its all-time worst. First of all, what is poverty? When asked, someone might say “its just poor people who don 't have anything,” which is true in a sense, but what are the real reasons that poverty exists in this country and why is it at its all time worst. According to the National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan the current poverty rate in the United States is 15.1 percent. That 's not a typo. 15.1 percent poverty rate is absolutely ridiculous for a country like the United States because too many people work low wage jobs which is sufficient enough to support their families. In addition to that 15.1%, 3.5 million people have to live with no home every year and 25% of those 3.5 million are under the age of 18. Poverty is an extreme problem in the United States for a variety of reasons such as economic, social, medical, and political factors. The ultimate question here is why? Why are there so many people living in poverty in not only the United States, but the entire world? Why hasn 't our government done anything to give assistance to those who need it the most? John Iceland gives three reasons why poverty is such a critical and important issue in today 's American society. First of all, poverty effects the physical and physiological states of an individual. If one is born into poverty, then one is more likely to have poor health and suffer also in their education. Second, poverty has economic consequences. I agree with the fact that he says that economies thrive with booming middle classes because its true. Just look at the Canadian and Norwegian economies. Their middle class has surpassed the United States as the most successful since 1980, according to the New York Times. Lastly, poverty has serious social consequences. Usually in areas of poverty, crime rates are very high. I 'll use my hometown of Detroit, Michigan to describe the problems that poverty presents according to Iceland. Whenever someone says to me, “Aren 't you afraid of living in Detroit?” and those are usually people who have never been and are just making assumptions, but the answer that I always give is that even though it does get a bad …show more content…
All these facts go to show how poverty is really affecting the city of Detroit and how people really are struggling to make a living. I 'm proud to be from the city of Detroit and I know the city will rebound. Iceland pretty much touches on the most essential and controversial issues regarding poverty in the United States; however, there are also many other small factors that contribute to the problem of poverty which I 'm sure he explain later on in the book. For the most part, I agree with his tone while addressing these issues as if there is a problem with how this country deals with poverty. And there is a major problem with that because this country is at an all time high with the poverty rate. Personally, I think one way to solve the economic problem is by raising the minimum