Can Poverty be Eradicated: Breaking the Chains

When did poverty start? Poverty has always been a controversy throughout the planet, yet not many people realize how bad poverty is until it begins to affect their lives and even their local areas to the point where it seems that poverty must be reduced. The root of poverty dates back to the 16th century with the start of the New World, increased trade, and, therefore, the arrival of recent economics. Poverty emerged concurrently with health. Gaps in income developed within animal nations through combinations of geographical locations, politics, and access to resources in training.

Increasing Poverty Rates

Poverty has only increased since it really became a global problem. As the economic growth rates continue to rise in the United States, the situation with families who are not as fortunate is getting worse. This might be because of the drop in the pay rate for jobs or companies laying people off, the increase of kids in a family, and many other reasons. Rates can also differ on a geographic level based on human and environmental attributes. For instance, an environmental attribute would be a family living in poverty because of the population rate or because the place they live in isn’t financially up to par. A human attribute would be; rates were going up for minority groups such as African Americans and Latinos or even women. This is a huge factor because many people discriminate against different minority groups. With the right population and environmental situation, the poverty rate should be going down.

Multidimensional Nature of Poverty

Poverty could be a multidimensional concept. The multidimensional nature of poverty could be a diverse range of characteristics. To feature the scale of poverty, there is a potential approach that conceives poverty as capability deprivation. However, despite its multidimensionality, poverty has also been viewed as a controversy that should not be allowed to exist in human societies.

Impact on Children

Poverty has reached record levels. There are 46.9 million people in total living in poverty. America has been immune to adequate poverty practices because they feel that the poor are liable for their own situations and suffering. But what about the children? In 2012 approximately 16 million children were living in poverty. It should be noted that the nation’s GDP is now one trillion dollars lower because of child poverty. Growing up in poverty for children has had an effect on childhood experiences on many different levels. Evidence shows that poverty can result in cognitive and emotional damage in poor children. Poverty can affect the way that the body and mind develop. This puts poor children in a far less healthy state than the remainder of the young population. These children are more likely to be affected by challenges with mental health. Children who have directly experienced these life changes have a better chance of having health problems as adults, like cardiovascular disease, strokes, shorter life expectancy, and many more. The psychological state of poor children is often effective as well. From this, there has been a high rate of children dropping out of school. This results in an overall struggle with academic achievement and the ability to succeed in school. This case should be enough for the planet to acknowledge the property problem.

Addressing Poverty through Programs

Treating poverty for basic needs like food, shelter, and health care is essential in order to keep poverty levels from climbing higher than it already is. In the United States, there are programs like food stamps, which were put in place to help minimize hunger and poverty. Although this program exists, there is still a mass amount of people struggling to keep food on the table for their families. Trying to keep a roof over a family’s head is already a difficult situation for many people. Another program called Section Eight allows individuals to find a house or an apartment for themselves and family. Usually, if one is in this program, they are required to pay very little money to their landlords because most of the rent is subsidized by the program. Still, with programs like Section Eight and food stamps, the poverty rate is extremely high. People are being penalized for being poor, and it’s simply not fair.

In the United States, healthcare is not that big of a priority. There are many programs that help with healthcare, like Medicaid. This program pays for everything health-wise and dental. Another program is Charity Care which is offered by many hospitals. Charity Care programs are usually based on one’s household income. Helping the poor and homeless apply for these programs will help reduce poverty levels.

Historical Context and Factors

For 30 years or more, 20% of the population in America has lived below the poverty level. Poverty has perplexed the Nation for centuries. Today’s society should be more focused on giving to those who are in need rather than those who already have. There were many government programs formed to give some of those in poverty jobs. These jobs were public service projects which allowed them to build things such as dams, bridges, post office buildings, and parks. In the process, the country’s infrastructure was improved drastically. Many people were willing and wanted to work, but jobs were scarce. There were a lot of people who had to seek proper training to work in certain fields.

Social and Racial Segregation

Not all people benefited from these programs that were developed. Although safety net programs have been put into place, it has not eradicated poverty. Poverty still exists in many countries.
Reciprocity and mutuality are two key components in helping the poor and those in poverty. In order to help the poor, people need to identify and evaluate what they already possess and help them to realize what they currently have to offer. To achieve this objective, the provider (who can be a social worker, service provider, or even community leader) should have an interpersonal relationship with the poor while maintaining professional boundaries. The goal of a provider is not to fix a poor person’s life but rather to guide and assist them in developing a solution for the problem. The provider is to be an encourager and supporter of those in poverty. They should encourage the poor to use their newly reborn skills to fix the issues in their lives but also use the skills to help the greater good of society. It will be easier to acknowledge the ways that an individual can not fix their current situation. At this point, once the problem is recognized by the provider, the poor are able to understand and look at their situation more deeply. They are able to identify the things that caused them to be in their present situation. Once they identify these things, they are able to realize that the issue is much bigger than them and out of their control. Those in poverty can empathize with those around them and work together to formulate a plan which will combat the structural system that is in place to prevent them from having a fruitful and effective life.

Global Perspective

There is a multitude of individuals in the world who fail to realize how deeply poverty is in different countries besides their own. Millions of people live on less than two dollars every day. Think about those who are living off of two dollars day-to-day with a family. This amount of money barely feeds one person, let alone a whole family with children. Not having steady meals and proper nutrition every day can spiral down to the children being malnutrition or evolving brain development problems. Clean water that is safe to drink is scarce in many underdeveloped countries. More than 650 million people in the world do not have an avenue to clean drinking water. Water is a broad and important substance in life that humans need to survive. Drinking unclean water can cause many diseases and other health problems. Approximately 700,000 children die each year due to this. Because of these conditions, life expectancy is shorter than the average person. Also, effective healthcare and education are non-existent for the poor. These people are described as the world’s poorest people.

In some of the richest countries, the number of poor people continues to rise. America is one of the richest countries and has more than 15% of people living below the poverty level. There are more than 15 million children that are suffering right now in America due to poverty. 40% of them are African American, and 35% of them are Latino. These children deserve better than the kind of lifestyle they were born into. It is crazy to think that those who are incarcerated are living better than those who are in poverty. They don’t have to worry about their next meal, where they will sleep at night, get clean water, or even get an education because they are provided with all of this. Many people have their own opinion about whose fault it is that people in general and young adults are still in poverty to this day. From a more political standpoint, a big reason is because of America itself, many businesses, and its wealthier people. There is a reason why the rich get to save some of the money that they earn, and the low-income people have to spend every check that they get. For example, businesses should hire poor or low-income people and provide them with better wages. This not only helps them out of poverty levels, but it also gives them a chance to change their whole life around. They would be able to buy food, clothes, a home, and so much more. Taking this chance, it could open up opportunities for businesses.

The Situation in Wealthy Countries

What are wealthy people doing for the poor? Sure, some people might donate to a foundation that helps the poor, but that’s not really helping by just throwing money at someone. The wealthy should go out on the streets and actually try to better lives. They should get to know who these people really are and help them start their lives over. For example, offering someone a job that pays well or even helping that person find a job that would accept them.

It is not a crime to be poor. A lot of people are born into poverty and are victimized by the criminal justice system. These people can not pay off any kind of penalties that are thrown their way. For instance, a traffic ticket can have someone in jail for a long time if they cannot pay the fees. There is a possibility for that person to get out of jail through bail or get out on probation. In 7 out of the 50 states in America, public defenders are free for low-income people. As for the rest of the states, they make them pay. It is very easy for a defender to not do their best job because he/she isn’t getting paid as much as they want from a low-income person. Therefore, that person may lose the case and potentially can be thrown into jail or may be requested to pay fees that they will never be able to pay. For the poor or low-income to be oppressed with fees for a minor violation can potentially destroy their lives.

Historical Segregation and Its Consequences

At the beginning of the 1970s, there were many housing restrictions in the suburbs. The restrictions were based on race and income levels. This means that if one is African American or Latino and even low-income, then they were not allowed to live in certain housing in certain areas. African Americans and Latinos were bound to live in networks made up of similar races. Urban people group the country over having consistently experienced deliberate isolation, which prompts concentrated neediness. This grouping of destitution is seen most plainly in more established mechanical urban communities in the Upper East. Geographic grouping of neediness diminished during the 1900s. These Upper East urban areas, despite everything, are a critical grouping of needy individuals living in specific neighborhoods. Urban destitution should be considered inside the neighborhood setting. It has been indicated that, regardless of whether a specific family isn’t ruined, that family will encounter various critical impediments, and the young will be presented to combined impacts of different hazard factors, basically by ethical values of living in an area of concentrated neediness.

Looking back over time, there are many attributes or factors associated with structural oppression. For instance, a person’s physical and social environment plays a high role in a poor person’s structural oppression. When the social environment comes into context, one may think about safety, violence, and social disorder in general. If the social experiment lacks safety and structure, then there is expected stress. Different types of social environments can play key roles in poor life, such as social relationships with others, labor markets, government, and cultural practices. The social relationship with those in the community puts the poor in a systematic structure. These same systematic structures also play within other factors that hinder one’s ability to be successful in poverty.

While most African Americans perceive that urban America is as yet isolated racially, monetarily, and socially, many view this isolation as a disastrous leftover from a supremacist past. Most Americans do not understand the planning and zoning laws that were established to maintain social and racial segregation. Some mechanisms used to initiate social and racial division were the restrictive covenant and a private contract denying home sales to African Americans and Latinos. Redlining is a mechanism used to classify people. This was bad because it stated where people could live and granted real estate appraisers the to place lower values on homes in African American localities. By doing this, these neighborhoods did not appreciate and provide the capital to African American families that ownership usually brings.

In 1940-1960 roughly five million African Americans relocated from the South to urban focuses in the North, and West African Americans relocated into urban isolation areas, which extended the limits of downtown ghettos. They were viewed as “blacks attacked by whites.” Whites then fled to the suburbs in huge numbers, while African Americans were prohibited from the suburbs.

The population of African Americans grew in urban centers, and so did the violence and overcrowding. Although a bill was passed called the Fair Housing Act in 1968, segregation of habitation still continued. As a result, this caused high unemployment rates and low wages, and it deepened poverty for colored people. Living in poverty is very stressful and oppressive. Most children in poverty, they feel hopeless and sometimes have depression because of inadequate housing. If people would realize the impact of poverty and work together with the poor, the world could make progress toward reducing poverty.

Historical Segregation and Its Consequences

There is a minimum of three subjective perceived causes of poverty and tendencies of the poor. The first cause is individualism. This perception actually puts the blame on the poor for being in poverty. Second, is the structural perception, which in this case, one tends to blame society. This recognition really accuses poor people of being in destitution. Auxillary significance is perceived as an absence of openings for work, joblessness, separation, assesses excessively high, and it detracts from poor people, low pay or wages, and disappointment of society to give steady employment. Last is the fatalistic perception which someone can see the cause to be destiny. The poor would see fatalism as undeniable requests, reasons for a predetermination, a legacy from their poor fore dads or guardians, bunches of kids, and enormous families.

With respect to the emotional tendency of poor people, it would be related to instruction or occupation. These are connected to social and word-related status. One would propose that those in need don’t want advanced education; they don’t want to have renowned employment since they feel these occupations are inaccessible to them. Whenever given a decent deal, the poor would do well in the public arena and would try to accomplish higher. They would likewise try to be effective throughout everyday life. Society and government must remove the breaks from the poor with the goal for this to occur.

Urgent Action and Global Goals

There are ways of being developed to address persistent poverty in America. The long-time neglect and lack of investment in people, as well as communities, have snowballed to an unbelievable amount of people being poor. Recent data from 1990-2011 shows 488 persistent poverty countries, representing an increase of nearly ten percent. It should not be allowed for persistent poverty countries to be left behind. The need for urgency still exists today. There has to be a course of action to change things. There must be a way to equip the poor and low-income people and give them the support and tools needed to sustain their families as well as their communities for the long term.

Thinking back on their historical context of oppression and poverty, it seems to go back as far as ancient times, when kingdoms were ruled by a monarchy that based societies on class. When discussing historical issues that could impact one’s environment to thrive, that person has to focus on the factors, whereas some areas, even in today’s society, also base environmental qualities on the class of communities. Poorer communities and countries struggle to have necessities like clean running water, while others would never know what that feels like. Lack of access to decent-paying jobs, affordable healthcare, quality education, affordable housing, quality food, and unfair criminal justice policies are all contributing factors to poverty for decades. The history of communities has contributed to their own personal struggles. Over time history has found a way to repeat itself by keeping those in specific communities stuck in their situations forever in unfavorable conditions.

Global Commitment to Change

It is time for global action to help change poverty. The 2030 agenda for sustainable development promises not to allow anyone to be left behind and to grasp those who are further behind in poverty first. Meeting this resourceful development timetable requires visionary policies for sustainable, inclusive, sustained, and economic growth. This is supported by financial conditions and decent work for all. The number one goal to recognize is ending poverty is the greatest global challenge facing the world today.

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