Poverty In America

Submitted By m_broski
Words: 1903
Pages: 8
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Michelle Brophy
Mr. Saine
English 101-008
03 December 2014

Poverty in America

Poverty in America is a growing cause in our country. Between the years 2011 to 2013 the percentage of people in poverty is 14.6, in 2012 there where 46.5 million people living in poverty (“United”). Many people are forced to live in poverty whether they come to the United States or already live here.
Two basic types of poverty measures are absolute measures and relative measures. Absolute measures, such as the current U.S. official measure, typically attempt to define a truly basic— absolute— needs standard and therefore remain constant over time. Relative measures, which are more commonly used by researchers and policy makers in Europe and less so in the United States, explicitly define poverty as a condition of comparative disadvantage, to be assessed against some relative, shifting, or evolving standard of living (Iceland).
There are many types of poverty with many different solutions. “The three most basic human needs are food, clothing and shelter. It is a national tragedy that in the world's wealthiest nation, more than 25 million Americans, including at least 13 million children, are not able to meet the most fundamental of human needs” (Bopp). What can the government do to help stop and prevent poverty? The United States government can help stop and prevent poverty by bettering the food stamp system, increase minimum wage, create new job opportunities, and start new and improve current organizations to help those people living in poverty.

Food stamps are on of the countries largest safety net programs. The food stamp system reduced the poverty rate in the recent recession (Tavernise).
The food stamp program is one of the largest antipoverty efforts in the country, serving more than 46 million people. But the extra income it provides is not counted in the government's formal poverty measure, an omission that makes it difficult for officials to see the effects of the policy and get an accurate figure for the number of people beneath the poverty threshold, which was about $22,000 for a family of four in 2009 (Tavernise).
The food stamp system has already made a huge impact on poverty. Making it easier to apply for food stamps would stop the growth of poverty in the United States. Currently the process of applying for food stamps is very difficult. One can apply for food stamps online, in person, or obtain an application through the mail. Normally food stamps will be received in a thirty-day period, if a person is denied food stamps in the thirty-day period they can file an appeal in ninety-day period.
The 2006 survey found that 89 percent of U.S. households had high or marginal food security. Almost 7 percent experienced low food security, and 4 percent experienced very low food security. These percentages have remained essentially the same since the food security survey was started in 1995. More than 36 percent of households living below the poverty line (which was $20,444 for a family of four in 2006) experienced food insecurity (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, USDA Briefing on Food Security) (Sreenivasan).
Making food stamps a type of income would help a lot of people build their financial stability and help bring people out of poverty. About 25 million Americans receive food stamps every year and cost eighty billion dollars per year.

Taxes and prices for good and gas are rising. How can a family pay for everything they need if prices keep rising and minimum wage stays at the amount it is.
Increasing the minimum wage to $9.80 would benefit millions of workers whose characteristics—in terms of their gender, age, race and ethnicity, educational attainment, work hours, family income, and family composition—contradict some prevailing beliefs about minimum-wage workers. In the first year, with an increase from $7.25 to $8.10, nearly 13 million directly and indirectly affected workers would see higher
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