The Problem of Poverty in America

When it comes to poverty there are a lot of problems that many people have to face. Such as many people being out of a job, people not able to afford the things they desire, or able to provide for themselves. For our country to be one of the most powerful and wealthiest we shouldn’t have a lot of homeless people around the city, communities and the environment just in general. Especially where I live at now in the downtown area there are a lot of homeless people on the corners, under the bridges, or in street allies sleeping on the cold dirty ground. Many people are starving to death because of hunger, no access to clean water, access to new clothes, and no home to come to. This is a problem because the government don’t look at the poor community area at all or try to support it. Therefore, the government goes where the money is, so basically where most consumers are. This is a problem as a nation we need to come together and fix!

In our nation, there are many causes of poverty such as lack of education, the lack of nutrition and goods, overpopulation, having very low income and being jobless. With no job how are you supposed to provide? With no job how are you supposed to buy food? Poverty leads to a lot of negative things while being poor such as crime for the most part. Most people below the poverty line start to commit robbery, drop out of school, sell drugs, and by that it's going to lead to incarceration. After all, for being homeless for so long it's going to be a time when being poor is going to come to an end. Homeless people get tired of sitting on the corner, asking for food from other people, and shaking a cup for hours just to get some coins. Sooner or later homeless people are going to realize that is not enough anymore and will find ways to get money no matter what. Where I’m from and where I use to live the poverty level was high.

Nowadays many people are being incarcerated because of poverty. Even children, the number of children affected by poverty has been increasing since the 1960s. Children with the least amount choice and ability to change their circumstances. It is very little they can do to help their families, nor should they have to. Usually, by the age of six, they can be enrolled in child labor. The justice system locks up so many people for a long time for small charges. And by doing that the government is spending thousands of dollars just to keep one person in a cell. All of that money is being used for people that don’t need to be in jail, instead of wasting all of that money on incarceration the government can put that money towards poor communities or charity.

Therefore, as a country, we as people need to work together to help reduce poverty. However, the rate has dropped from 15% in 2012 to 14.5% in 2013, but there was no significant change or improvement in the number of Americans living in poverty while researching, I found a lot of solutions to decrease poverty. Solution one, create more jobs and more opportunities. By creating more jobs and opportunities will reduce poverty in the United States. By the government creating jobs it makes the poor more financially stable. When people have jobs, they have income, and when people have income, they can more easily get themselves out of poverty. Solution two, educating the youth and donating. Many children around the United States are very poor, they have no education, knowledge or support. By educating the youth, children can have a chance to get an education and become something in life. Also keeping children off the streets.

Donating goods, clothes, and give full support from programs. Solution three, raising wages. The United States hasn’t raised the federal minimum wage since 2007. Raising the minimum wages could potentially increase the health and well-being of millions of people. Solution four, access to health care. Having health insurance is very important for several reasons. Uninsured people receive less medical care and less timely care, they have worse health outcomes, and lack of insurance is a fiscal burden for them and their families. Moreover, the benefits of expanding coverage outweigh the costs for added services. Solutions five, shelter care. I believe this is a good solution because by providing shelter homes poor people won’t be homeless, and they will have a place to lay their head until they are back on their feet. Solution six, childcare. Having childcare for the youth is a very good idea because children under the poverty line will most likely have no education, no parents, and be incarcerated for years to come.

Although, as I said before when it comes to poverty there are a lot of problems that many people have to face. As the United States of America being one of the most powerful and wealthiest countries in the world we shouldn’t have so many people out of a job or see people homeless living cardboard boxes on corners of the cities. As Donald Trump said, “Make America great again!” Ever since he been the president America hasn’t been great in my opinion. As the president, he hasn’t made any improvements to make our country again. I chose this topic because poverty is a huge social problem that is affecting a huge number of people and as a country, we are not doing anything about it we are just letting this happen. Many immigrants and people around the world come to our country to get a well-paying job and have a better life not to be poor all over again. Soon the poverty level is going to increase and catch up with our country. As a country what can we do to end poverty? What kind of solutions can we create to drop the poverty rate?

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