Our Nation’s Growing Poverty
Alex Zabel
When it comes to our nation’s poverty, people are
passionate and polarized. At one extreme: We just need to invest more
resources. At the other: We’ve thrown billions down a sinkhole over the last
fifty years and accomplished almost nothing. Over the course of the past 50
years, our nation has undergone quite drastic ups and downs regarding poverty
levels. Lately, poverty has grown quite significantly and needs to be addressed.
ACNeilsen, the world’s leading marketing
information company, reports that Americans once again rank near the top of
global ratings when it comes to being strapped for cash. The rating company
can’t exactly figure out why Americans are so strapped for cash, but note that
Americans don’t like to over spend and actually try to follow budgets. So what
is the problem then? The answer is simple: Americans are strapped for cash
because of the difficulty of making ends meet on minimum wage jobs. In the
midst of the recession in 2008, nearly 30 million jobs were lost which has
reduced a majority of America to pursue minimum wage jobs.
Furthermore, the number of Americans on welfare
is higher than the number of Americans that hold full-time jobs. Clearly, this is a huge problem. A country cannot survive if
its citizens are not willing or able to work. In 35 states welfare pays better than an actual
job. This is what we call an "incentive". In other words, the U.S. is
incentivizing people to not work. Why would a person actually get a job if they
could be paid more to stay home? For example, in Pennsylvania, a single woman
with children working a job that pays $29,000 a year actually receives $57,345
in total income when benefits are factored in. Conversely, if the woman were to
work a job that paid $69,000 a year, her net pay after taxes is only $57,045.
If the woman were to make more than her $29,000 salary, she would miss out in
nearly $30,000 in government benefits. Short of winning the lottery or
developing some sort of hot product, a person's income is not going to increase
rapidly from $29,000 to $69,000. This is referred to as the "welfare
cliff." There is no incentive for the woman to better her life and stop
receiving welfare.
As you can
see, there are substantial flaws that must be taken care of. More jobs need to
be opened up, and our government welfare plan must be revised. We cannot keep
handing out billions of dollars to people sitting at home on a couch. We must
port forth a motive to get people out and working; a motive that will drive
this nation out of such astounding poverty rates.
Works Cited:
I completely agree with your argument in your post. I feel like this poverty issue is not going to be resolved anytime soon, as it will continue to get worse. In America, so many people are relying on the government for their benefit checks, food stamps, welfare (which is unfair to make people pass a urine test to earn it for people and those who are receiving it don't need to pass one) whatever it may be. This issue is just adding on to the issues we have with the economy because it's not even an uncontrollable issue of our country - it's because of the decisions society is making. People would rather sit on the couch and do nothing. The only reason they'd get up is to check their mailbox for that check, go out, spend it, come back and sit right back on their couch. And those who don't have jobs, they aren't going to start looking for another one. The government is there for them to take advantage of. It is complete and utter laziness, and that is the problem with America. The population of free-loaders might exceed the population of those employed. That may be an exaggeration but, who knows? America's asking for it.
ReplyDeleteObviously, poverty is an issue that our country is facing and has been facing for a while now; and unfortunately, our country will probably still be facing it years from now. Despite the attempts to lower the poverty rate—welfare, programs to help get people on their feet, etc—the rate of those in poverty continues to increase. However, I don’t think it is time to give up, at least yet. If our country continues to force these programs, slowly but eventually, people will start obtaining more jobs and help improve the economy.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the country should have a more “tough love” system to it because welfare is so beneficial it is almost too beneficial. There are not many people in the world who would go against the easy route. If I got paid to do nothing, you bet I would take it. We need to have a different incentive that forces people to work because welfare shouldn’t be so reliable. There might be some concerns with that because people always want more but in the end, the government is helping out the whole country.
ReplyDeleteThats unbelievable to read that! A person who receives $29,000 at her minimum wage job really makes $57,000 from the government? That is so unfair and backwards! I mean if someone that isn't getting these benefits because they have an actual job and get paid decent for it they make the same as that person because they get nearly the double the amount because of those government benefits. That is basically taking their minimum wage and doubling it by giving out these government benefits. But the person that actually would get paid for example 15$ (double minimum wage) wouldn't be getting paid double that but rather they get money taken out because of taxes. ITS JUST NOT FAIR!
ReplyDeleteI couldn’t agree more that we need to start putting a motive out to people to make people want to work. Poverty is a very serious topic that we have been facing for quite some time now but I feel as if we are trying to fix this problem yet is it getting worse and as time goes on will only get worse. But those who aren’t as fortunate and are suffering there are many options we have to have people get back on their feet and get some help. Our country will continue to fight but I think if we just give up there is no hope so we must keep trying.
ReplyDeleteThis post is really eye-opening. It's incredible that a person on welfare is making just as much, if not more, as someone working a full-time job, and quite frankly, it's wrong. This "incentive" is really less of an incentive and more of a handout. It is difficult to find a job right now, and the majority of Americans are tight on cash, but this is not the answer to help them. Like you said, the government should revise the welfare plan to better motivate people to get jobs instead of staying at home for money.
ReplyDeleteI think the first step to pushing America out of this poverty hole we're in is actually having jobs available to people. Like you said in your text in 2008 30 million jobs were loss, and I don't think that those jobs were given back or new jobs were created, if there was its not 30 million of them. Which I believe is the number 1 problem. I don't think people don't want to work, sure its fine getting that check, but what if it goes away, and they understand that too. I think people actually want to work and actually support their family, at least coming from a man's point of view I wouldn't want the government feeding my wife and kids, that's my job. So people want to work its just where can they? & its not their fault they don't have a job or no jobs are available besides the minimum wage ones. To get rid of poverty you need to create jobs, you cant go blame it on the people saying they don't want to work, who knows what they want to do, but I guarantee if there were jobs around their city that pay well the poverty rate would rapidly decline in less than a year. If that happened those same people that "sit on the couch" all day would be the same ones working in those jobs, but it's up to the government to create jobs. I can't believe that people can actually blame the people for not having a job especially if they had one already, like that just blows my mind that people can be so blind to the fact that everything that happens in America, something as significant as our poverty rate is and will always be THE GOVERNMENTS FAULT!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of the job situation in America, poverty never comes to mind. It may be because I grew up in a small town where the majority of people are employment and poorer people are harder to find, but this post really made me realize the devastating effects that poverty has on our country. As you said, one solution is to provide more resources for the poor so they can survive. Yet, with more and more services being provided to these nonworking people the less motivation those people have to go out and find a job. If everything is handed to you, why would you want to get that taken away? And in this case, getting a job would take more away from the unemployed than what they would gain. So, I feel it would be better to possibly give less to the poor, not nothing just less, to provide higher incentive to go out and get a job, ultimately expanding our economy.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the welfare of the country needs to be changed, and although it might be difficult in today's economy, but an idea of house to make this change is to create more jobs and try to enforce the idea of actually working in those jobs rather than sitting at home. It may be difficult to do, however, since many people prefer to be at home not working, than out and actually working.
ReplyDeleteIn class when we talked about just how much the top 1% has, and how wealthy they are, it astounded me. We also discussed just how little a surprisingly large amount of Americans live on, and I was struck by how “messed up” our economy is. Even though we are one of the top countries is progress, we still have a long way to go in bringing up our poverty levels. After we discussed all this in class, I was wondering about some more of the reasons as to why our nation is shaped in such a way. This blog about welfare opened up my eyes a little more as to just how our government is working. Our government should not be supporting the people, it should not be the very thing holding us up. With people relying on government, it is bringing down the middle class as well, and in the end it seems like those top wealthy people will end up holding the country up -- and thats a frightening thought. Recently I went to a food pantry in Milwaukee and talked with some people who were there and needing food, and I found out some interesting things. One of the woman I talked with wasn’t working, she just simply wasn’t. It would seem as if there was no reason why not, and now that I look back, I wonder if she was one the people just relying on Welfare. It just strikes me as being wrong and unjust and not how the system is supposed to work.
ReplyDelete