http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/opinion/sunday/why-cant-we-end-poverty-in-america.html?pagewanted=all
After reading this article it's pretty evident that the War on poverty is nowhere near over. Statistics say that a third of the population makes less twice the poverty line, $38,000 for a family of three. Which makes making ends meet virtually impossible. When we started counting the lowest poverty has ever been was at 11.2 percent and has spiked at 15.2 in 1983. But because we now have food stamps, social security and all these other types of assistance it keeps most people from being out of poverty but if we didn't have these things we would easily double the poverty in this country. So people need to understand that there are others out there who literally have to live off food stamps, others being roughly six million people. So no the war on poverty is nowhere near over, when millions of people aren't living on just food stamps or depending on the government to help them then maybe just maybe the War will be over but til then it's nowhere near over.
Alec after reading the article you have wrote on and many others from the blogs people have posted I do agree the war on poverty is far from over. Im not saying food stamps, TANF and things like that are bad, however it has caused america as a country to shy away or put to the side our actual poverty problem. This article talked about how "Half the jobs in the nation pay less than $34,000 a year, according to the Economic Policy Institute. A quarter pay below the poverty line for a family of four, less than $23,000 annually" This quote shows that even though people are working they are not doing enough to support their families. This causes our government to step up and take responsibility for our country failing poverty wise. Even though they are helping and doing the right thing in the long run it could potentially hurt or ruin our countries economy. In my opinion if you work hard and earn your money and support your family you should not have to be punished by helping those who have sat on their asses and used our government aids as a way out. Now Grant it not all that are in poverty are sitting on their asses and not all of them are at fault for being in poverty. I am from South Texas South Padre to be exact and all over the valley which is the term for that area in south texas exhibits tremendous amount of poverty. I have met those in poverty that do nothing and those who work hard at their low paying job but can't seem to get out of the financial hole they are in because of certain circumstances that they have been put through. The war on poverty is not over. But I do believe the restrictions for helping those in poverty should become a lot more strict. I certainly would not like my tax money going to a family where the father is spending the money he earns on drugs, beer etc. thats not always the case but it is like that in some circumstances. I do not have an answer myself to fix this war on poverty, but i do hope someone can come up with a better plan before my hard earned money starts going to people who really just rely on us americans who work hard for what we what/earn.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Charles on this one. Also, I never really took statistics seriously because it’s just numbers and not really the precise percentage of how many Americans are really living in poverty. It just gives you a visualization of how many not the realistic number. I also feel that the government is to blame for the poverty level in America. If you look at charts of their funding its ridiculous what they spend on campaigns, and funding on departments we don’t really need. America needs to focus on its citizens and what’s really going on in the country first before even getting involved in anything else. Now, back on Charles’ post, I completely agree with that the guidelines for welfare should be stricter and from what I know the law passed that everyone who wants to apply or is already in the Welfare program should be tested for drug use. Yippee! I honestly, do not want my hard earned money to be going to someone who only spends it on drugs when there are other people out there who really need the help. The war on poverty will never be over and it’s an issue that will be continued to be work on; citizens of the U.S. will always rely on financial assistance because our economy isn’t looking too well. The government has made poorly choices and I understand that it’s difficult to make a choice if it will benefit the whole country without having a double edged sword.
ReplyDeleteI’m going to also have to agree with Alec that the war on poverty is definitely not over and it’s not going to be over any time soon. I don’t think we will ever know truly how many people there are in poverty right now because of all the government founding, like food stamps and other controlling factors. Just like Charles, I am also from South Padre Island in the valley. The Valley is a very poor area. In fact Harlingen is the lowest cost of living city in America. There is an incredible amount of neighborhoods in poverty and plenty of homeless people. One of my good friend’s parents operates a newspaper business down there. Every single person selling newspapers on the corners were either homeless or in poverty so I deal with a lot of them and it is definitely a problem in America. I know a lot of people take advantage of the governments help and don’t even do anything to help themselves out. They just expect the government to take care of them and their families. It’s pretty shitty for the average American since those tax dollars come from us. It can be spent more wisely if it weren’t for the lazy people that abuse it. I don’t think the war on poverty is going to be solved at all. The only way I can see it getting any better would be if people sacrificed more time in their life to get an education to prevent themselves of getting anywhere near poverty.
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