A large portion of the public does not understand why people live in poverty, and believe it is because they do not work hard enough; but this is simply not true. There are countless causes of poverty that people do not often recognize such as, inadequate job opportunities (especially in inner cities), lack of education, being raised in poverty as a child, mental and physical illness or disease, and many others. Poverty is often the root to other social problems as well such as crime, drugs, and the prison system, to just name a few. People or families who are living in poverty and do not have enough money to survive often turn to crime because they see no other options. With a lack of jobs in inner cities, there are often no way for these people to make enough money to eat other than selling drugs. Due to this, America has been losing in the drug war, unable to stop people from using, while incarcerating these individuals giving them a record and minimal chances to find work …show more content…
Poverty exists because some people have great wealth while others have little to none. Education levels are also closely connected to levels of income, the wealthier a family, the more likely their children will gain a strong education (Ralph, 2015). Private high schools have roughly five times more counselors per student than public schools (Johnson, 2015). Private schools or schools located in wealthier areas have a much greater number of students applying to college. A student in private school will likely have their advisors select all of the necessary courses for applying to college and inform the students of opportunities and situations that increase the chances of them attending college (Johnson, 2015). As well as wealthy individuals benefiting from poverty, wealthy countries and big corporations also benefit from people and countries with less financial power. For example, the price of oil around the world is largely based on whether a country is more of a consumer or a producer of oil (Do, 2015). Countries where the gas prices are lower, such as the U.S, consume a great deal more oil than is produced. This means that these countries need to import and purchase a great deal of oil from other countries, and do not export early as much. 80 percent of the world’s population shares just 6 percent of the world’s wealth (Do, 2015). There is massive inequality in the world, and it is also