Poverty Vs. The Economy

Poverty vs. The Economy

Poverty is a lack of goods and services necessary to maintain a

minimal adequate standard of living. The definition of the term adequate varies,

however, with the general standard of living in a society and with public

attitudes toward deprivation. No university accepted definition of basic needs

exists because poverty is a relative concept. In poorer countries it means

living at the brink of subsistence, while in our country few improvised families

confront starvation, although many suffer from undernourishment.

A key issue in the area of poverty is inequality. Inequality has been

a problem in all societies. No society distributes income evenly. Despite all

the conceptual and technical problems of measurement, the government has

devised a widely cited poverty index that reflects the different consumption

requirements of families depending on their size and composition, on the sex and

age of the family head, and on weather they live in rural or urban areas. Based

on past surveys, the designers of the poverty index determined that families of

three or more person spend approximately one-third of their income on food.

Thus, the poverty level for these families was, therefore, set at three times

the cost of the economy food plan. For smaller families and persons living

alone, the cost of the economy food plan was multiplied by higher factors in

order to compensate for the larger fixed expenses of smaller households. The

poverty thresholds are updated every year to reflect changes in the consumer

price index but overall rises in standard of living. (levington, page 147)

Another issue is that the poverty index has several flaws. First, it

does not allow for regional variations in the cost of living or for higher costs

in the central city areas, where many of the poor are concentrated. Second, the

flood costs for the budget were designed for temporary or emergence use and are

thus inadequate for a perment diet because they provide only the barest

subsistence. Finally, the government statistics fall to take into consideration

nonmonetary benefits and assets in determining the number of poor. If these

were counted, the numbers in the official poverty ranks would be reduced.

The growing gap between the poverty level and median family income

demonstrates the inaccuracy of adjusting a poverty level for price ...

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...easy. Birth control and maternal care, designed to give children

a better start in life, also leave the mother in a better position to become

economically self sufficient or, at least, contribute to her own support.

Similarly, the difference between cash subsides and rehabilitative programs is

often blurred, for instance, stipends are necessary for the poor if they are to

complete an effective training program. These various strategies for helping

the poor complement each other. Not only must today's poverty be alleviated

through cash and in-and aid, but steps must be taken to reduce it in the future

by better preparing young people and by giving the poor a better chance in the

job market.

Bibliography

Fitchen,Janet M.(1981). Poverty and Rural America

New York,York: Random house Publishing Company.

Jansson, Bruce S. (1988). The Reluctant Welfare State, A

History of Amercians Social Welfare Policies. Belmont, California:

Wadsworth Publishing Company.

Katz, Michael B. (1990) The Undeserving Poor the War on Poverty to the war on

Welfare, New York, New York.

Levitan, Sar A. And Shapiro, Issac. (1987), Working But Poor. New York, New

York: The free Press.