Poverty in America Poverty is one of the world’s biggest problems and has yet to be solved, about 80% of humanity lives on less than ten dollars a day (11 facts about poverty, dosomething.org). Even the world leaders such as the United States of America have big problems with poverty and even how to solve it. The United States of America has around 313.9 million people and of that 313.9 million, 14.5% are living in poverty (dosomething.org). There are so many different ways of fixing poverty but people are consumed by their needs. Society does not help anyone else with their needs. Majority of society takes everything for granted even the smallest things when there is millions of people without clothes, beds, even homes. Poverty can be significantly reduced by a serious change to how the money is distributed in welfare.
America likes to spend money that they do not have and spend it on the needs instead of the wants. According to Anup Shah, it would only cost forty billion dollars to help every single person in every single developing country. The forty billion would cover basic education, clean water and sanitation, reproductive health for women, and basic health and nutrition. Everyone is thinking forty billion is too much to fork over. Annually the United States of America alone spends: eight billion on cosmetics, eleven billion on ice cream from Europe, seventeen billion on pet foods, fifty billion on cigarettes which in the end will kill you, 105 billion on alcohol, 400 billion on narcotics, and 780 billion on military (Anup Shah, Globalissues.org). Forty billion does not seem like such a big number anymore and that is because it’s not. The solution to coming up with forty billion could be making the change on how much is given out through welfare. There are tons of ways to become part of the battle against poverty. Poverty has been around as long as humanity has been around. Poverty altogether would cost more than forty billion because the forty billion only covers a few things.
There are two different ways to start the battle to reduce poverty one being an agreement called, “0.7% agreement,” or to make a serious change to welfare. Annually, welfare gives out fifty to seventy five billion dollars and annually America goes fifty to seventy five billion dollars further into debt. “The current welfare system provides such a high level of benefits that it acts as a disincentive for work,” said by Tanner and Hughes. In over 40 states welfare pays over the minimum wage. Why work a minimum wage job when welfare pays over that? That needs to be reduced immensely because this is giving the people on welfare the opportunity to just not work anymore and not try to get back on their own. If the welfare bonuses were reduced and put back into education or put into giving them a new start instead of just paying them to sit and do nothing. There should be requirements such as: must attend a second chance school or go back to school and maintain a 3.0 grade point average, must find a job or volunteer some hours. Things that will make them have to get out there and do something to earn the money. As for the 0.7% agreement that is more for the wealthy and not the already poor. The agreement is to give 0.7% of what was earned over the year and donate it to an organization that will help poverty or directly donate it to the 0.7% agreement that most of the world leaders are a part of.
The 0.7% agreement is the solution to help against poverty for the rich or the financially stable people of America because it involves giving money. In March of 2002, the conference was held by all of the world leaders; the conference was held to decide if the world would come together and make a change for poverty. They all agreed to make “concrete efforts” towards a 0.7% agreement. The 0.7% agreement was the plan to save as many countries as possible and to begin the battle against poverty. Twenty two of the world’s wealthiest countries are gearing up