Poverty and the Decline of the Middle Class
Poverty is the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support. It is the condition of being poor. Here in the United States, it’s masked by the Hollywood lifestyle portrayal, and even some who live in that state of poverty, admit to becoming content with living paycheck to paycheck, or even without a paycheck. What was once known as the middle class, is quickly becoming better described as the working poor. More working citizens are living in financial ruins today, than ever before in our country. According to Poverty USA, more than forty-six million American’s live in poverty today. In a country that no doubt has seen its fair share of ups and downs on Wall Street, …show more content…
has spent $15.9 trillion on welfare. This would not be so shocking if the welfare system actually reduced poverty. Unfortunately, it hasn’t. Welfare has become a comfortable solution for many, while the humanitarian and religious organizations that once offered aid, see decline in funding. While welfare reform, was said to have been an effort to help recipients get back to work, there still remain circumstances which prevent financial growth. The cost of child care, lack of transportation, inability to find full-time employment and lack of healthcare, leading to illness or disability are just a few of the various downfalls. A lack of skills and education often lead to low paying jobs in poor working conditions. While the cost of living continues to rise, wages seem to stay about the …show more content…
People who live in poverty often become desperate and turn to a life of crime to provide their unmet need. With little or no money to hire sufficient legal counsel, these unfortunate American’s then become a product of a different system, the failed justice system. According to Bruce Western, a sociologist at Harvard, “Prison has become the new poverty trap…It has become a routine event for poor men and their families, creating an enduring disadvantage at the very bottom of American society.” In turn, we also have seen the rise in the murders of not just poor black citizens, but poverty stricken individuals as a whole, at the hands of law enforcement, forcing these children to not only go hungry, but often leaving them to grow up with in a single parent home. “Education, income, housing, health — incarceration affects everyone and everything in the nation’s low-income neighborhoods,” said Megan Comfort, a sociologist at the nonprofit research organization RTI International. So this becomes a viscous cycle that is almost impossible to break free
Poverty is the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support. It is the condition of being poor. Here in the United States, it’s masked by the Hollywood lifestyle portrayal, and even some who live in that state of poverty, admit to becoming content with living paycheck to paycheck, or even without a paycheck. What was once known as the middle class, is quickly becoming better described as the working poor. More working citizens are living in financial ruins today, than ever before in our country. According to Poverty USA, more than forty-six million American’s live in poverty today. In a country that no doubt has seen its fair share of ups and downs on Wall Street, …show more content…
has spent $15.9 trillion on welfare. This would not be so shocking if the welfare system actually reduced poverty. Unfortunately, it hasn’t. Welfare has become a comfortable solution for many, while the humanitarian and religious organizations that once offered aid, see decline in funding. While welfare reform, was said to have been an effort to help recipients get back to work, there still remain circumstances which prevent financial growth. The cost of child care, lack of transportation, inability to find full-time employment and lack of healthcare, leading to illness or disability are just a few of the various downfalls. A lack of skills and education often lead to low paying jobs in poor working conditions. While the cost of living continues to rise, wages seem to stay about the …show more content…
People who live in poverty often become desperate and turn to a life of crime to provide their unmet need. With little or no money to hire sufficient legal counsel, these unfortunate American’s then become a product of a different system, the failed justice system. According to Bruce Western, a sociologist at Harvard, “Prison has become the new poverty trap…It has become a routine event for poor men and their families, creating an enduring disadvantage at the very bottom of American society.” In turn, we also have seen the rise in the murders of not just poor black citizens, but poverty stricken individuals as a whole, at the hands of law enforcement, forcing these children to not only go hungry, but often leaving them to grow up with in a single parent home. “Education, income, housing, health — incarceration affects everyone and everything in the nation’s low-income neighborhoods,” said Megan Comfort, a sociologist at the nonprofit research organization RTI International. So this becomes a viscous cycle that is almost impossible to break free