Opinion Paper: Poverty in America

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“More than 46 million Americans live in poverty.” The poverty line in Florida is currently 17.1 percent. The amount of poverty is at its highest since 1960. Does the United States have an obligation to help the poor? In America, we claim to be the land of the brave and the home of the free. But how many people in America are free from poverty? 49.7 million people in the United States are in poverty. In 2012, 49 million people weren’t sure if they were going to be able to buy food for themselves or for their families. This is incredibly distressing to hear. In America, which praises itself for being a world powerhouse, some people can’t afford to eat. The factors that affect poverty include government programs, unemployment, organizations helping the poor, and how poverty is calculated.
Some people say that the government simply gives out money to the poor, but this isn’t true at all. In order to get money from the government, you need to fill out an application and meet certain requirements. These can be loans or grants, however grants are harder to get. Of course, the government provides things like education, Medicare, welfare, food stamps, etc., but are these things going to help the poor get out of poverty? No. Is it going to help them live in a better environment? Not likely. Currently there are some very good ideas that could be incredibly helpful to the homeless or poverty-stricken. Utah has reduced their homelessness by seventy-eight percent since they decided that instead of putting the homeless in jail they could just give them homes. That’s right! Who knew that homelessness could be solved by giving people homes? In fact this actually saved Utah money from not having to spend the money on prisons to house the homeless....

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...ly as possible. The poverty line needs to be raised to a level that includes everyone who is struggling badly not just people who are drowning. These things may just help many poor people out of poverty. So yes, we need to help the poor, but we need to figure out how to do so first.

Work Cited
. N.p.. Web. 6 Mar 2014. http://feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/hunger-facts/hunger-and-poverty-statistics.asp&xgt
. N.p.. Web. 6 Mar 2014. .
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Rozzi, Giulla. N.p.. Web. 6 Mar 2014. .

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