Overcoming The Silence of Generational Poverty

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Today's news is full of speculation and debate about the national debt, taxes and potential cuts to vital programs that serve those in need. However, the conversation often seems overly caught up in the finer points of politics and media coverage rather than the real people that these decisions affect. I think it's fair to say that American attitudes toward the poor are more often than not, disdain and fear. There's a common myth that people are forced into poverty because they are simply lazy or inferior, the truth is it is harder to feed and clothe your family than ever before. Poverty in this country is not accidental, it is a direct result of funneling wealth upstream; the rich get richer and the poor suffer. " The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want " Mark 14:7.
In America, you are considered to be in poverty if you have to grow your own food, or you have a job making minimum wage, or live on government assistance. The U.S. Census uses the same poverty thresholds throughout the U.S. without deference for geographic location, but they are updated for inflation using Consumer Price Index (Commerce). Wage increases have not kept up with the increases in the cost of living, Americans 65 and older had the largest increases in poverty under the revised formula, from 9.1 percent to 14.8 percent, mostly because of medical expenses such as increases in Medicare supplement premiums. Statistical evidence about poverty is a topic that tends to come up in discussions about economic hardship, yet the issue has all but disappeared from the legislative agenda as lawmakers focus on deficit reduction.
The number of poor people in 2012 was 49.7 million, or 16 percent. That exceeds the record 46.5 million,...

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Mortenson, T. (Ed.). (1993). Postsecondary education opportunity: The Mortenson report on public policy analysis of opportunity for postsecondary education. Iowa City: American College Testing Program. Web. 13 Oct 2013

Rasheed, Mehreen. A Brief Look at Poverty in America. Journal of Housing & Community Development 70.2 (2013): 6-7. Business Source Elite. Web 6 Oct 2013.
Shipler, David K. The Working Poor : Invisible In America /n.p.: New York : Vintage Books, 2005. Print.
The Colbert Report. www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/368914/december-16-2010. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. www.compassion.com. Psalm 12:5. 2013. Web. 15 November 2013.

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