The Descent Into Poverty John F. Kennedy once said, “We can no longer tolerate the growing patches of poverty and injustice in America- substandard wages, unemployment, city slums, inadequate medical care, inferior education and the sad plight of migratory workers.” This was said in the early 1960’s. It has been fifty-seven years, and we are still dealing with the same problems today in Kentucky, one of the poorest states in the country. Kentucky is one of the poorest states in the United States because of the high poverty rates, high unemployment rates, and the collapse of the coal industry. First off, Kentucky is one of the country’s poorest states because of the high poverty rates. The website talkpoverty.org stated that in 2016 18.5%
