Poverty vs. Equality and the Foreclosure Crisis

1111 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Sociological imagination about poverty

Imagine a world of poverty. A world of dirt, garbage, filth, people who do not care about the planet they live on. One uses a cardboard box to inhabit because it just doesn’t matter anymore. It does not matter, as in the mold infested homes are unsafe to be inhabited. The world has been bulldozed down to flat land. We’ve gone backwards, not forwards. We live like Neanderthals who are in constant competition for natural resources. Philosophers and geniuses’ like Hobbes, Kant, and Einstein never existed. We have nothing but sickness and disease. This may seem far-fetched, but this is how some foreign third world countries live. I can only imagine.

Imagine a world of equality, a world of trust and security between neighbors. Each rich man gives a little to the not so poor man just because he knows it’s the justified thing to do. Each person has a home, or someone to stay with. Playing outdoors is not a worry anymore because parents have confidence and crime issues are illicit. College is back in the picture for many adolescents because money isn’t a problem. It is the epitome of a near perfect society. I can only imagine.

Are these two scenarios out of the picture for the United State of America? I would hope that scenario one would be out as we are a bit more advanced then the poorest of the poor third world countries. Scenario two, however, is going to take some work. It’s doable, but only if each and every citizen lends a huge helping hand. These scenarios are directly associated with the foreclosure crisis as they both have the same “security” issues. This foreclosure crisis is a problem that is eminent, and will continue if drastic measures are not taken. People are afraid, because of this crisis, to gamble with their mo...

... middle of paper ...

...age of it. If we could bring that back, and open it up to not only first time homebuyers, but investors and third and fourth time home buyers, we would have justice.

Citizens of the United States of America adore the term rich. Spending their money on something that is over priced upsets Americans so much that they cease their buying to make a stance and start a movement, or what we would call the economic crisis. If we could give the people what they want, a home and being able to keep their hard earned riches, we would finally have a sane nation once again. Lower taxes, give incentives, don’t have such a high restriction to the people who want to buy a home but their credit rating is just under the mark. Giving options and keeping it fair to the millions of homebuyers, will kick start our community and bring peace to this beautiful nation once again.

Show More
Related

  • The Working Poor Essay

    1084 Words  | 3 Pages

    Compared to other developed nations in America there is a large gap between the working poor and the wealthy and it has increased in the last 40 years (Mankiw, 2014). By gauging a better understanding, Shipler makes the reader want to fight for the working poor with the way he describes their struggles in detail. By interviewing workers from around the country with different circumstances, demographics, professions, and located in different regions Shipler was able to gain a realistic data of the working poor population. After interviewing individuals he was able to gain an insight into the struggles of those that are invisible like having to choose between the luxuries of the middle class like having a cable or a cell phone or paying their bills, the meager wages and hard hours single mothers like Caroline have to struggle through to provide for their family, and feeling like they don’t matter to their employers. Along with detailing the struggles of the working poor Shipler mentions possible solutions along the way that society could assist with like increasing minimum wage so the working poor could have the opportunity to survive, possible programs that would focus the children of the working poor so they could have a better future in high school and beyond, and if employers were able to reduce some of the requirements more opportunities could be provided to the working poor. With the creation of state and local communities that provide outreach like teaching job etiquette, proper hygiene, education, and transportation more individuals would be able to gain better self-esteem and have reliable transport to work. In order, to have a fighting chance the invisible American’s need society to fight for them, so those that make up the working poor know that they

    Read More

  • Examples Of Sociological Factors On My Life

    1987 Words  | 4 Pages

    Having a family of low socioeconomic status inevitably leaves me to reside in a low-income neighborhood which makes it more likely for me to witness the tragedies, adversities and hardships that people go through [not excluding myself]. Being conscious of this kind of environment, and these kinds of events, creates a pressure on me for having the aim to achieve social mobility in order to escape the aforementioned environment so that my own children could witness one less abominable aspect of life. Moreover, my family’s low socioeconomic status does not authorize me the privilege of being raised with the concerted cultivation method that kids of high socioeconomic status are more prone to being raised in. My family did not have the financial resources that granted us access to extra classes or lessons of instrumental classes, swimming practices, karate practices, or any other extracurricular activities that people of high socioeconomic status would be able to afford. This invisible fence that prevents me from these extracurricular activities enables me to having more appreciation towards the hobbies and talents that other people have. Plus, the fact that my family’s low socioeconomic status acts as a barrier from enjoying expensive luxuries in life creates a yearning [in me] to enjoy them later on in my life, in addition to acting as the fuel to my wish of achieving social mobility in anticipation of providing my own children with the luxurious vacations, gadgets, beachhouse, new cars that I could not

    Read More

  • Observations in All Our Kin

    1290 Words  | 3 Pages

    middle of paper ... ... If this is true, then certainly the American Dream wins out for virtue. Indeed, throwing money at a problem absolutely does not make it go away – but when families are legitimately struggling to make ends meet and goods are scarce, when they’ve established these complex chains of organized networks and trades, and when they can empathize with others in their situation and see the big picture beyond their own, one is left to wonder why Stack’s voice hasn’t been heard more widely, and why the residents of The Flats are still left to fight against the current in their own comparatively competent culture of exchange, and networks of all their kin. Stack, Carol B. - "Standard" All Our Kin : Strategies for Survival in a Black Community.

    Read More

  • The Increase in Crimes to Achieve the American Dream

    672 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...at the American culture places economic success at the pinnacle of social desirability, without listing legitimate ways for attaining the desired goal (Merton 672-682). Today, the American Dream no longer reflects the dream Adams had, but instead, the idea that one can only call themselves truly successful if they have become rich, regardless of the way they got there. The American Dream does not guarantee happiness, but rather the pursuit of it, but with the media strongly persuading people that money guarantees happiness, people are encouraged to do whatever it takes, even it means disregarding their morals, so that they achieve ‘success.’ The inability to achieve this goal often leads people to destructive, and ultimately life-threatening criminal behavior as their feelings of anxiety and frustration over this vision of the “American Dream” get the best of them.

    Read More

  • The Foreclosure Crisis: Human Greed, Entitlement, and Deception

    2099 Words  | 5 Pages

    There is, I believe, no easy way to solve the foreclosure crisis. The reason for this is that the underlying problem is not merely the individual foreclosures. The underlying problem isn’t even all of the foreclosures as a whole which constitute the crisis. No, the real underlying problem is ultimately human greed. Consequently, the way to solve the foreclosure crisis, I believe, is not merely through some kind of “stimulus plan.” Yet, this matter shall be examined more thoroughly later.

    Read More

  • The Pact

    914 Words  | 2 Pages

    I cannot honestly say I have ever known a day of poverty in my life. There has never been a time when I have gone to bed hungry or had to worry about crime in my neighborhood. I wouldn’t say I’ve lived a sheltered life, my environment just doesn’t allow for such things. Regardless of whether I am “better off” than the kids in The Pact, I know the remarkable things that good friendships can do for one’s life. Whenever I am feeling a little down, or I’ve had a bad day, a friend wil... ...

    Read More

  • Injustice In Homeless People

    1468 Words  | 3 Pages

    situation they are in. “Poverty is such a personal experience that only the poor can understand it”

    Read More

  • Analysis of Economic Inequality In "Ill Fares The Land" and "Justice"

    1130 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ment and the people, more Americans can see the equality promised them: equality of opportunity. Only through community, meaning effort from both citizens and government, can inequality be resolved. No one-sided approach can rectify a situation that envelops all of society. Government must set aside partisanship in order to produce targeted legislation that addresses the declining transportation, education, and economic infrastructure. Meanwhile, the community must realign their ideals and realize that together these problems can be solved. However, as long as materialism and overt individualism dominate the community and dysfunction and gridlock have a foothold in government, the schism between rich and poor will continue to grow. The two sides will “live increasingly separate lives” (Sandel), and the goal of economic equality slips father and farther from repair.

    Read More

  • Those in Poverty Impact Society as a Whole

    1852 Words  | 4 Pages

    Surviving in a world where money matters is not easy at all. Try living on less than a dollar and fifty cents a day. Go into a store and look for food enough for three meals that has enough nutrients for a balance diet all under a budget of $1.50. Fresh fruit and vegetables along with meat are out of the question, then what are the options? There really are none except a few canned and dried goods. There are people who live on this on a daily basis. The amount of people who live in poverty are over 1.4 billion and increasing daily. Society has not focused enough on social justice for those in poverty. “The working poor harvest sweet potatoes in time for Thanksgiving. They cut trees in time for Christmas. The fruit of their labor are in our lives every day, yet we rarely see them. Even when we encounter them face-to-face stocking shelves in Wal-Mart or checking us out at the supermarket, we do not see them as whole people, and we surely do not see them as poor. They are hidden in plain sight” (Edwards). People work minimum wage and receive barely enough assistance from the government to help support them. These people work and continue to work to make enough to survive one day at a time. The opportunities for those of low class compared to those in middle or higher levels of class do not match. These classes all receive different benefits, but more importantly those in poverty impact society as a whole.

    Read More

  • Housing Affordability Crisis In The Bay Area

    678 Words  | 2 Pages

    As the lease of my apartment is coming to an end it had me thinking of achieving my own American Dream of home ownership but as I do my research I find the dream is far from coming true. I am sure that the issue of housing prices and rent rates are what most of us Bay Area residents talk about and debate. It is an issue that needs to be addressed by the officials of the area, city mayors, affordable housing committees, social justice activists,lawmakers, and even employers. Skyrocketing prices, low inventory, and investors’ bidding wars are not only pushing the middle and lower classes out of San Francisco and the Bay Area out but will completely eliminate them.

    Read More

  • Poverty and Classism

    758 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to Schwartz-Nobel, America will lose as much as 130 billion in future productive capacity for every year that 14.5 American children continue to live in poverty (Koppelman and Goodhart, 2007). Sadly the seriousness of poverty is still often clouded by myths and misunderstandings by society at large. This essay studies the issue of poverty and classism in today's society.

    Read More

  • Social Issues Presented in Jeannette Wall's Memoir, The Glass Castle

    1075 Words  | 3 Pages

    Poverty is referred to as the inability to provide for basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter, medical, etc. Walls (2005) stated that at times they would go days without eating and would keep their hunger to themselves, but always thought of ways to get their hands on some food. She further stated that “At lunchtime, when other kids unwrapped their sandwiches or brought their hot meals, Brian and I would get out a book and read. I told people that I had forgotten my lunch but no one believed me, so I started hiding in the bathroom stall during lunch hour. When other girls came in and threw away their lunch bags in the garbage pail, I’d retrieve them and return to the stall and polish off my tasty finds ” The major thesis addressed by the author, detailed the struggles she faced.

    Read More

  • Poverty: Using Sociological Imagination By C. W Mills

    1582 Words  | 4 Pages

    Society at large had such a great part to play in my situation. (Mills, 2000) It is the one that had brought this poor state. For instance, the society and the community did not actually realize that most of its people were in need and hence had taken this to be a norm. Working so hard and earning little was the way of life. Therefore, the society had made us feel comfortable in that state that we were in, and I believe that it was how people at some point lived even if they became rich later.

    Read More

  • Buying A Home

    1232 Words  | 3 Pages

    Buying and owning your home is part of the American dream. Although the dream itself has since changed, the home still remains the main focal point. Today owning a home doesn’t necessarily mean a house. People now buy duplexes, cooperative apartments, and condominiums. For some families it could take up to a couple of generations before it’s able to have the capabilities of buying a home. To many people it means a certain achievement that only comes after years of hard work. It is a life altering decision and one of the most important someone can make in their lifetime. The reasons behind the actual purchase could vary. Before anything is done, people must understand that it’s an extraneous process and it is a long term project.

    Read More

  • Position Of Poverty

    2322 Words  | 5 Pages

    Poverty, also known as the silent killer, exists in every corner of the world. In fact, almost half of the world’s population lives in poverty. According to the United States Census Bureau, there were 46.7 million people living in poverty the year of 2014 (1). Unfortunately, thousands of people die each year due to this world-wide problem. Some people view poverty as individuals or families not being able to afford an occupational meal or having to skip a meal to save money. However, this is not the true definition of poverty. According to the author of The Position of Poverty, John Kenneth Galbraith, “people are poverty-stricken when their income, even if adequate for survival, falls radically behind that of the community”, which means people

    Read More

More about Poverty vs. Equality and the Foreclosure Crisis

Open Document