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Poverty is a vague and ambiguous term. Many people define poverty in many different ways. Some consider it the literal lack of monetary funds, while others consider it the lack of over-all ‘wealth’ which includes the opportunity to attain an education and hopefully, in turn, attain some form of monetary currency. For the sake of this paper, the definition of poverty which includes opportunities and education will be used because it includes various parts of being poor instead of focusing simply on monetary currency.
When the general public thinks of poverty, it thinks of poor starving children in Africa. Poverty does, however, not only apply to these foreign countries. Poverty in developed countries goes largely unnoticed by the media of the modern age. The majority of the population focuses their time and energy to alleviate the poverty found in under-developed countries such as Somalia, Sierra Leone, Botswana and various other poor countries. What goes unnoticed by the majority of the population, however, is that poverty can be found in their own ‘backyards’ so to speak. Poverty within developed countries such as Gary, Indiana tends to go unnoticed.
The question still remains: how can poverty exist within rich, developed countries? The majority of the population of the United States of America live happily above the poverty line. There are, however, various regions of the country in which a large number of the population live significantly below the poverty line. This poverty that is found in specific regions of developed countries is due to certain circumstances being present in that region which are not present in the rest of the developed country.
The city of Gary, Indiana is a prime example of a city living in pove...
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...ice Review 87.2 (2013): 250-268. Academic Search Premier. Web. 28 Oct. 2013. Luke Shaefer attended the University of Michigan and Kathryn Edin attended Harvard University, this is proof that they are highly qualified. They work for the National Poverty Center, which means they are likely unbiased in the article.
Terry, Don. "Where Work Disappears and Dreams Die." American Prospect 23.6 (2012): 48-61. Print. This article is about how the Steel mill used to be the reason why this city was growing and industrious, but when it shut down it left nearly the entire city in unemployment. The author Don Terry has written articles for Columbia Journalism Review as well and was on the campaign trail with president Obama. It is possible that his association with the Democratic Party may create a bias in the article, however it seems to be very fact based and this is unlikely.
Poverty can be defined in many ways. Some consider it an issue caused by the lack of ambition in certain individuals. On the other hand, many also consider it to be an issue caused by outside forces such as class, education, and economic conditions. Essays by Lars Eighner, Anna Quindlen, and Jonathan Kozol all touch base on poverty and what it means to be in poverty.
Everyone knows what the word poverty means. It means poor, unable to buy the necessities to survive in today's world. We do not realize how easy it is for a person to fall into poverty: A lost job, a sudden illness, a death in the family or the endless cycle of being born into poverty and not knowing how to overcome it. There are so many children in poverty and a family's structure can effect the outcome. Most of the people who are at the poverty level need some type of help to overcome the obstacles. There are mane issues that deal with poverty and many things that can be done to stop it.
Poverty in Developing and Less Developed Countries The world includes less developed countries and developing countries. Less developed countries are countries considered to be poor and often contain many people who are in absolute poverty. Developing countries are countries like India, which are gaining in wealth. There are two types of poverty within the world.
Several citizens in America may not empathize with many social conflicts which transpire in America. Unfortunately, when poverty is mentioned people of diverse gender, race/ethnic, and age can relate to poverty in America. Although several societies have not experienced the undesirable measures of relative or absolute poverty; several people know poverty exist through many channels, such as the media, social networking, history and charities.
According to Jack Patton, a retired steelworker, he affirms that the steel industry used to be the strength of the US economy, as well as the driving force of the Cleveland Economy. But now, most of the steel mills have closed, businesses have left, and Cleveland has lost thousands of jobs. On his part, Paul Volpe, an architecture, states that Cleveland used to be the centerpiece of Fortune 500 companies until most of them left and only a few now remain. The population itself has not grown as expected, thereby giving rise to the concept of “sprawl”. In the 1960’s and 70’s, part of what drives business to the suburbs is numerous free and large parking space, however, officials of Cleveland, to salvage the situation, tore down many vacant structures to create parking lots for businesses. Sadly, this effort did not work: more businesses collapsed and more people left, leaving the city in isolation. Regrettably, the problem persisted, the situation of things got exacerbated, until late 1966 when things finally exploded. This led to serious riots and protests which even drove many away; the straw that finally broke the camel’s back was when the Cuyahoga River caught fire, this led to more and more people deserting the city and eventually, the city went into bankruptcy. As tax revenues fall, basic city services also fell; police
Poverty can be fund in every nation of the world. Poverty can be found in nearly all geographic locations on the earth. Poverty can be found on the streets of New York City in the United States, the slums of India, or the jungles of Africa and South America (Poor Us). The richest and the poorest nation both have poverty. While there may be huge inequalities between the rich and poor countries of the world, they all face large amounts of poverty. What is defined as poverty in these rich and poor countries? In America, poverty could be a young family struggling to pay rent or homeless men and women on the street. In India, poverty could also be a young family struggling or homeless men and women on the street. Poverty does not
It certainly seems peculiar how so much disparity exists among the haves and have-nots in the country that leads the free world. The high level of poverty in the United States coupled with the disparaging rates of income are at times hard to comprehend. How can a country of such great wealth and power also be a country of vast poverty? Poverty will always be evident in the United States to some extent. However, minimizing poverty and income inequality will be conducive to the well being of the United States.
Poverty is not just an issue reserved for third world countries. Instead, poverty is a multifaceted issue that even the most developed nations must battle
Poverty is “the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions” (Merriam-Webster dictionary, 2015); in other words, struggling to provide a comfortable living style. It is the cause of family stress and many other problems, especially for the children. Millions of people around the world are struggling with poverty; families suffering to provide enough food seem to be growing in numbers. According to the United States Census Bureau, the poverty rate was highest in the 1960s and decreased greatly in the 1970s. However, it is now slowly starting to increase again. Recently released census data by the Bureau showed that one in five people are living in poverty (Census Bureau, 2014). Poverty is even
Being able to speak about poverty we first need to understand its origin and cause. Each cause of poverty varies however they all effect people and society the same way. Studies say that there are few reasons such as population growth, corruption, etc. however the real reason still remains in the open. It has become a horrific issue all across the world. Because there are different causes of poverty each needs a specific solution. History in most countries began with the inequality based on financial wealth, very similar to today's world. Countries that experienced colonization and slavery had trouble getting of the discrimination. Poverty is defined as the lack of the minimum food and shelter necessary for maintaining life. It has become the biggest global issue because it involves a big percentage of the population.
Poverty has been an issue for a long time and every country is affected by it in some way and some countries are worse off than others. The countries most affected by poverty are Niger, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Uganda, Haiti and many other countries (Infoplease).The total percentage of world population that lives on less than $2.50 a day is that of around 50%. The definition of poverty is “The state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor.” (Dictionary).
What is poverty? Well, according to Webster's Third New International Dictionary, poverty is "lack of money or material possessions; poor." Two-thirds of the world's population fits this definition. I know that many times we think of being poor as not being able to buy the car we want or take the trip we can only dream about. However, being poor, living in poverty, hits a lot lower than that. For example, a resident of the country of Chad will only bring in $100 each year. Since many people can make more than that in one week, some in one day, can you imagine having the feed a family of five or six, or even a family of two, on only $100 a year? These are the conditions that exist in poverty-stricken countries.
As developed countries quench their thirsts for petrol, developing countries around the world are left behind, force to watch on without any help from the outside community. Being poor means to be disadvantaged in every single way. It means not being able to support yourself or your family or have the basic necessity to life. Without substantial help for these helpless people then we should be feeling guilty that we are living lives far better than what others are experiencing. Poverty may because by wars, disease or lack of education and infrastructure and the resulting consequences may be hunger, starvation, crime and ultimately death. If poverty is not eradicated then injustice will continue, increasing death tolls and lives.
As one of the biggest problems facing the world today, poverty continues to have significant negative implications for the society. The effects of poverty are extremely severe and far-reaching, so much so that it was one of the top Millennium Development Goals agreed upon at the Millennium Summit of the UN back in 2000 (Hatcher, 2016). To understand the effects that poverty has on the society, one must critically analyze the societies in which poverty is rampant, as well as analyze poverty from the relative perspectives that it presents. The core aim of this paper is to develop a holistic understanding of poverty and elaborate on the diverse ways in which it continues to affect societies across the world.
Poverty is a global epidemic that contributes to the deaths of millions each year. However, poverty is more prominent in some areas around the world than others. The Oxford dictionary defines poverty as the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support, but it’s so much more. Poverty can be defined as being hungry, lacking shelter, being unable to go to school, being unable to see a doctor, or being powerless and having a lack of freedom. The reason behind the many descriptions of poverty is that poverty has many faces, and its definition changes depending on the place and time, however the effects of poverty on the poor are always the same.