Poverty as a Social Problem: Exploring Causes and Solutions

What is Poverty? It is the deficiency of necessary or desirable items one needs to make it through life (Dictionary.com, 2018). The causes of poverty are complicated, for the impact of poor health and life events can be a few areas that can contribute to poverty which can be out of the victim’s control. Poverty is a global problem, for more than three billion individuals live on a daily income of two dollars and fifty cents (Shah, 2014).

The Impact of Poverty on Education

Poverty impacts more than the wealth of an individual.

Poverty also attacks the education of those who suffer through poverty; since they have no income to pay for an education. In fact, in the twenty-first century alone, three billion poverty victims lack the skills to read a book or even sign their own names (Shah, 2014). Anup Shah, who is a writer for globalissues.org, states in his report on poverty, “1 billion children live in poverty (1 in 2 children in the world). 640 million live without adequate shelter, 400 million have no access to safe water, 270 million have no access to health services. 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (or roughly 29,000 children per day)” (Shah, 2014).

Searching for the Cure

Poverty is cancer that spreads across The United States like a disease; however, all diseases have cures, but what is the cure for poverty? Poverty is a major problem in The United States; however, there are many solutions to solve the issues of poverty, but the main three are to create more jobs, raise the minimum wage, and invest in child care and education programs (Vallas, 2014).

One of the most effective ways to decrease poverty in a country is to create more jobs for its citizens. There are many ways to create more jobs in a country; however, The United States has set record numbers in creating more jobs.

Strategies Adopted by the U.S.

The United States is one of the most economically important countries in the world. The United States is a strong and prosperous nation which means it has an abundance of wealth to redistribute to its citizens, but how does one create more jobs (Iceland, 2013)? The United States has brought back three million jobs under the leadership of Donald Trump (Jackson, 2018). How did Donald Trump accomplish this? Donald Trump started taxing companies that were moving their business to other countries for cheaper labor rather than using hard-working Americans in their factories (Devore, 2018). He then offered lower taxes to businesses that moved their factories back to The United States (Devore, 2018). This action to create jobs resulted in millions of Americans being employed, and the poverty percentage in The United States dropped twelve percent; since Donald Trump enacted this new tax policy (Jackson, 2018). This is a proven and effective way to create more jobs in a country;

The Benefits of Increased Wages

However, there are more ways to decrease poverty’s presence in the world than just creating more jobs.

When an individual is hired for a profession, the company must follow a minimum wage law, which is the minimum amount of money set by the U.S. Department of Labor, that sets how much the individual is paid (dol.gov). However, taxes and other government entities take away from the total amount he or she makes. This leaves the individual working day in and day out with less money for their work. That is why raising the minimum wage would be beneficial to decreasing the poverty percentage; since this would give the average worker more money to pay for the necessities to live, such as paying for themself or their child to get an education or pay for medical insurance for their family members in case one of their family members becomes ill. This is a simple way to give more money to those who live in poverty more money, for it allows them to pay for more necessities for living, such as food, education, and medical insurance.

References

1. Dictionary.com (2018). Definition of Poverty.
2. Vallas, R. (2014). Proposed Solutions to Poverty Issues in the United States. Journal of Social Policy.
3. Sachs, J. D. (2005). The End of Poverty. Penguin Books.
4. Iceland, J. (2013). Poverty in America: A Handbook. University of California Press.
5. Jackson, R. (2018). Job Creation in the United States Under Trump Administration. Economic Analysis Report.
6. Devore, J. (2018). Tax Policies and Job Creation: An Analysis of the Trump Era. Fiscal Studies Journal.

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