Persuasive Essay: Why Poverty Should Be Stopped

Poverty is affecting billions of people around our world and the number is growing with each day. Many people think they can avoid the effects of poverty, but it is something that affects all of our daily lives. Many people see poverty as a person who lacks money, although this is true poverty is caused by many more things than being without money. Just the fact that one in two children live in poverty can help people see clearly the impact it has on our world. Poverty truly does influence the type of care and treatment a person will receive when they need it.

One of the major social issues in the US is poverty. “In 2014, the official poverty rate was 14.8 percent” (Census). This percentage represents approximately 46.7 million American people. Back in 2008, the official poverty rate was down at 13.2 percent, which means that the poverty in USA

Poverty is one of the most horrific epidemics in our society today. Poverty is the state of being extremely poor. It is a very serious problem that many people suffer from today. Many issues such as illness, hunger, and bad sanitation are all causes of poverty. Statistics show that there are over 35 million Americans that live in poverty. That is almost 10% of the whole population. There are many reasons that cause poverty in America. The lack of jobs that are available for people with a low education. People can’t get the education they need because colleges are too expensive. Statistics have also proven that alcohol and drug addiction affect about 20% of the homeless. Poverty is like a disease that is killing this country. What is the government doing to help save this country?

But it’s important not to judge the people who are living in conditions that seem terrifying to you because you don’t know what they’ve been through, nor you know what caused them to be in this situation. Poverty is not always a personal choice, but a reflection of society. Difficult circumstances causes people to end up being poor, even if it’s not in their control. People are in poverty because they find themselves in holes in the economic system that deliver the inadequate income.

Poverty can be a vicious cycle for some families that goes from generation to generation. Another personal issue that can lead to poverty is illness and unemployment which puts someone out of work and there is little to no income coming in. Along with these personal issues that I stated there are also many

Because of these issues, society should develop better strategies to help these people in need to eliminate the growing poverty level through the world. These strategies could include

The children of our nation are the future; however, America’s children are suffering. Child poverty, hunger and nutrition, and welfare are growing issues that need to be solved. The statistics provided in The State of America’s Children 2017 Report are eye-opening. Sadly, poverty is threatening America’s children. According to the State of America’s Children in the United States and Alabama 2017 Factsheets, 18 percent of the U.S.’s children were poor in 2016, and 25 percent of Alabama’s children were poor in 2016. These statistics are overwhelming due to the fact that child poverty affects all areas of their lives. Children exposed to poverty at such a young age are at a disadvantage in several areas; these children are at risk of low academic achievement, resulting in lasting negative effects. Our economy is not able to thrive if child poverty continues. Children living in poverty are also at risk of dropping out of school, being unemployed, and entering the juvenile justice system. Our government is responsible for ensuring that child poverty ceases to be an issue in the United States. Fortunately, our legislation has priorities in the effort to end child poverty through the extension of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), improvements to the Child’s Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and also through raising the minimum wage to $10.10. This can be done by investing more in programs that work like the EITC, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance

Society believes those living in poverty are often perceived as lazy, not hardworking or uneducated. Which is often not the case, but rather these families are doing everything in their power to meet daily needs. For instance, my home point of view during my childhood and adolescent years were surrounded by women whom are all educated, and exemplified great independence, strength and work ethic. The woman that was most influential in my upbringing is my mother. My father was absent in my childhood.

They are our future. According to society, our entire world may be in the hands of our children. But if children are the future then why do they still suffer from hunger due to poverty and food insecurity? The amount of children suffering is higher than a number than you could’ve ever anticipated. It’s horrendous that while living in one of the wealthiest countries in the world we still see children starving. “One in six youngsters are at a risk of hunger because of limited or uncertain access to nutritious food” (“An Invisible Hunger”). This shows that countless houses in the U.S don’t have the basic essentials to feed a child. There are millions of ravenous kids in the U.S and there are very catastrophic effects because of this.

‘Poverty’- a simple word with unlimited connotations. Poverty is a universal issue that has been plaguing our Earth for centuries; thus it is essential that the immensity of the situation is acknowledged by everyone. If looked up, you’ll find the exact definition of poverty being: ’general scarcity, dearth, or the state of one who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money. [1] Poverty is a multifaceted concept, which includes social, economic, and political elements. [2] Poverty may be defined as either absolute or relative.’

Poverty has been a consistent problem throughout history. No matter what the median income, unemployment or overall prosperity level is, there will always be people who are in a state of poverty. Despite being one of the most prosperous countries in the world, the United States is not immune to it either. In 2010 the University of Michigan’s National Poverty Center calculated that twenty-two percent of children living in the United States lived in poverty, exceeding the average fifteen percent of the overall individuals living in the United States (npc.edu). Women also are twice as likely to live in poverty then men are and even larger percentages of people living in poverty are found in minorities living in the United States.

Imagine being so hungry you can’t even move. Having to sleep in a house made of dirt, or being so thirsty because there is no safe drinking water. People around the World face these problems everyday. 328,000,000 children live in extreme poverty, and 1 in 10 people live on less than $1.90 a day. The conditions they live in are horrible and everyone should do what they can to help end poverty and world hunger.

140 years ago, imagine being in bondage, oppressed, maybe even tortured; to have to go about your life constantly under the watch of someone else; to be bruised and beaten and broken—all because of the color of your skin. Imagine being someone who was free, but oppressed in other ways; to be unable to work the same way that a man was no matter how smart you were, to be forced into doing what “ladies” do; to be stepped over and disregarded—all because of the gender you were born as. These qualities are just some of the degrading aspects of inequality. These aspects have not completely disappeared in the modern day; they are just not as blunt as before. Equality comes with progress and progress takes time. Therefore, despite many efforts for and progress regarding equality in contemporary America, inequality still cuts across bringing with it issues of wage inequality and continued racial inequality.

The term ‘Poverty’ reflects the meaning itself. Many philosophers often described it with statistical term by evaluating the population, income source, extreme to moderate levels, capital per income, family members, opportunities, employment and so on. But the exact meaning of poverty is being homelessness, discarded from schooling, foods and basic needs. Poverty is a state of life, affecting all of humanity (Meade, 2013). Although poverty is defined in several forms however, we cannot deny what exactly it means.

Poverty can adversely affect the population in so many ways. Families living in poverty can face emotional and social challenges, cognitive lacks and health and safety issues and acute and chronic stresses. Levels of stress increase with the economic circumstances. Subsequent poverty and job loss are associated with violence in families, including child and elder abuse. These families are also more likely to be exposed to illnesses, job loss, eviction, criminal victimization and family death. Children living in constant poverty also show the worst cognitive development, compared to children from higher socio-economic backgrounds ("Hunger and poverty", 2017).