POVERTY IN AMERICA
ROXANNE MEDINA
INDIANA WELSLEYAN UNIVERSITY

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Poverty in America
Abstract
We do not realize how easy it is for a person to fall into poverty: A lost job, a sudden illness, a death in the family or the endless cycle of being born into poverty and not knowing how to overcome it (Poverty in America, 2012). There are many issues that deal with poverty and many things that can be done to stop it (Poverty in America, 2012). Poverty affects everyone, there is no such thing as a perfect world; hence, society can never be equal. To be living in poverty is a horrible state to be in, for the individual will be lacking in essential aspects needed for life (Silva, 2013). People deserve to have equal human rights, yet why does half of the world still live without a home, education, healthcare or food?
Introduction
Poverty in America is still at an all-time high, where it may seem like the recession is over, but in reality it’s really not over. What is at an all-time high; is American’s uncontrollable spending habits. Given the economy, the looming stopping of unemployment benefits, the lack of jobs despite the bailout of companies and tax breaks these are just to name a few things that are actually going on in America today. With the 50-year anniversary of the War on Poverty approaching, there are plenty of stories out there about the basic facts of poverty in the U.S.: the official rate is 15 percent, with more than 46 million Americans living below the poverty line (Kurtzleben, 2014). That share of Americans in poverty is slightly lower than it was in 1964 and has been flat in the post-recession years (Kurtzleben, 2014). The official national poverty measure was 14 percent in 1967 and is about 15 percent today. A Columbia University study released last month and officially presented to President Barack Obama suggests those numbers may be misleading (Alfred, 2014). A newer method of calculating poverty gives a more accurate picture of deprivation. The so-called supplemental poverty measure takes into account the benefits that the poor receive including SNAP, tax credits, WIC and school meals. It also totes up how much a family pays to survive, including health care costs, taxes, child care and housing (Alfred, 2014).
Looking through this new lens, Columbia researchers found that the poverty rate in 1967 was closer to 26 percent, while the rate in 2011 (the latest available) was 16 percent. Given these calculations, researchers said, the war on poverty actually did have an effect, since poverty fell almost 40 percent (Alfred, 2014).
However, with today’s minimum wages going up to almost $15.00 an hour there are still in some states that put the average worker with a family of 5 or more into poverty. The spending on unnecessary things such as cell phones; clothes and other necessities that are of unnecessary needs can still put American’s into poverty (Froehlich, 2015).
In each state, there was at least one county with a median annual household income more than $7,000 lower than the state’s median income. Virginia and Maryland had counties with median incomes over $35,000 lower than that of the state. 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the poorest county in each state based on data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (Froehlich, 2015).
Lessons Learned: The lessons learned here is that throughout human history, most people live and die in the social class into which they