Reasons for Poverty in the US - Essay Example

? Does increasing poverty in United s have any relation with globalization? Does increasing poverty in United s have any relation with globalization? Poverty is a universal phenomenon which can affect any country irrespective of their economic power. No country, developing, developed or underdeveloped, is free from poverty. Poverty is one of the major concerns for the sociologists and economists. It is a condition in which a person fails to maintain adequate living standards for him and for his family members. Even United Sates is facing poverty related problems. According to Usborne (2008), “28 million people in the US will be using government food stamps to buy essential groceries in the fiscal year 2008, the highest level since the food assistance program was introduced in the 1960s” (Usborne, 2008). United States is supposed to be one of the wealthiest countries in the world. However, the recent financial crisis has created strong concerns among the public about America’s credentials as one of the richest countries in the world. Many Americans lost their employment as a result of the recent recession and are currently living in miserable conditions. “In 2009, 14.3 percent of all persons lived in poverty” (Poverty in the United States, 2010). In other words, in 2009, more than 14 out of 100 Americans lived in miserable conditions. The above statistics seem to be embarrassing for sociologists and economists. United Sates faced several accusations when globalization entered the world. Many countries, including China, perceived globalization as a strategy by capitalist countries like America to loot the resources of other countries. However, at present economic experts are unique in their opinion that America failed to exploit the globalization properly whereas China succeeded in exploiting it heavily for their economic growth. Many people are of the view that globalization also played a role in increasing the poverty rates in America. This paper analyses the major reasons for poverty in America in general and the role of globalization in particular, and proposes some solutions to eliminate it. Reasons for poverty in America United States has certain criteria for calculating poverty in the country. The table given below indicates the sampling of the poverty threshold as per the 2009 statistics. From the table given below it is clear that different norms were there to calculate the poverty levels of different people. People below the age of 65 and over the age of 65 have different criteria to calculate their poverty levels based on the number of children they may have. It is an accepted fact that two people with same revenue cannot be considered as rich if they have different number of family members. 2009 Poverty Thresholds, Selected Family Types   Single Individual Under 65 years  $ 11,161 65 years & older  $ 10,289   Single Parent One child  $ 14,787 Two children  $ 17,285   Two Adults No children  $ 14,366 One child  $ 17,268 Two children  $ 21,756 Three children  $ 25,603 (Poverty in the United States, 2010) A parent with fewer children may have less expenditure than a parent with more children. In other words, population increase is a factor which is affecting the poverty statistics in America. America is a country of paradise for the immigrants. People from all over the world are migrating to America in order to achieve better living standards. It is a fact that these people are contributing heavily to the economic growth of the country. At the same time they are increasing American population and subsequently the poverty rates may also go up. The following table provides a brief idea about the poverty rate among children of different communities in America as per the 2008 statistics Children Under 18 Living in Poverty, 2008 Category Number (in thousands) Percent All children under 18 15, 451 20.7 White only, non-Hispanic 4, 850 11.9 Black 4,480 35.4 Hispanic 5,610 33.1 Asian 531 13.3 (Poverty in the United States, 2010) From the above statistics, it is clear that the White children have comparatively less poverty rates in America. Asian children also succeeded in maintaining less poverty rates. Better education helped the children of Whites and Asians in America to maintain a low poverty rate. In other words, education is one of the major factors which determine the poverty levels in any countries and America is also not an exception. According to Malthus’s famous formulation, population growth follows certain geometric progression. In his opinion, the number of people grows at the rate of 2, 4, 8,16,32,64,128, 256, and so on. Malthus answered the question, why the poor classes remained poor based on his theory of geometric progression (Cypher and Dietz, 2008, p.115). Rich people may have enough resources to tackle the population increase in their sector and they may not face much problems associated with it. However, the population increase among the poor may create more problems with respect to poverty. Population growth will prevent the poor people giving enough resources or education to their children and such children will not provide anything to the productive sector when they grow up. The total resources available in the universe remain as a constant which means the available sources per head go on decreasing as the population increases. According to the Nobel Prize winner and renowned Indian economist Amartya Sen; Poverty is the lack of capability to function effectively in society. Inadequate education can thus be considered a form of poverty. The relative poverty perspective emphasizes exclusion from the mainstream in rich countries, which can reduce the motivation of the relatively poor and their ability to gain full benefits from education (Van der Berg, n. d., p.2). It is not necessary that the poverty in America is dependent only on the factors inside America alone. In a heavily globalized world, problems of one country can affect other countries also, both directly and indirectly. For example, poverty in countries or regions like Africa, India and Haiti can affect the poverty in America also because of globalization. “A child dies every three seconds from AIDS and extreme poverty, often before their fifth birthday in Africa”(Extreme poverty in Africa, 2011). “An estimated 80% of the Haiti people are living in absolute poverty”(Haiti-Poverty and wealth, 2011). The conditions in India are also not much different even though India is developing rapidly compared to other nations. America and other developed countries have moral responsibility in assisting people living in poverty, especially at a time when we talk too much about topics like globalized world or international community. Being a prominent and richest country in this world, America has more responsibility in assisting the people who live in pathetic conditions. Poverty forces the people from these countries or regions to immigrate to America. Being a strong advocate of secularism and human rights, America cannot deny the immigrants the luxury of migration. It is a fact that the educated immigrants from these countries may become an asset for America as they can contribute heavily to the productive sectors in America. America is currently facing shortage of manpower in critical sectors and immigration may help them to solve the manpower shortage problem up to certain extent. However, it is not necessary that all the immigrants may have adequate education to deliver the goods to American economy. Immigrants with improper education may serve as a liability to America rather than an asset. In short, legal and illegal immigration, as a result of the increasing poverties at some parts of the world, is increasing the poverty rates in America. Another major reason for American poverty is inflation. Inflation is a universal economic phenomenon in which the prices of all commodities go on increasing except money. In a highly inflated economy, even the salaried professionals may face extremely difficulties to meet his or his family’s expenses. Inflation rate must be kept at an optimum level in order to fight against poverty. Elimination of poverty from US soil Elimination of poverty from US soil is possible only if the administration succeeded in the elimination of the reasons of poverty. In other words, it is impossible to eliminate poverty from US soil without controlling the population growth, inflation rate and immigration (Both legal and Illegal) and improving the educational levels among the Americans and the immigrant community. However, it is difficult to tackle poverty in America with the help of above solutions alone. Moreover, America should assist the countries or regions with higher poverty rates in order to eradicate poverty from the universe as poverty in other parts of the world can affect US, both directly and indirectly. Conclusions Poverty is a social evil which should be eradicated from the universe. Rich countries have more responsibility in helping the poor countries in eradicating poverty especially in the current globalized world. The major reasons for poverty in America are; increasing immigration, lack of education among the immigrant communities, high inflation, population growth, globalization etc. In an increasingly globalized world, it is difficult for one country alone to fight successfully against poverty. Collective efforts from the people and the administrations from all over the world can wipe off poverty from our soil. References 1. Cypher J.M. and Dietz J.L. (2008). The process of economic development Taylor & Francis, 2008 2. Extreme poverty in Africa, (2011). Retrieved from http://cozay.com/ 3. Haiti-Poverty and wealth, (2011). Retrieved from http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Americas/Haiti-POVERTY-AND-WEALTH.html 4. Poverty in the United States, (2010). National Poverty Centre. Retrieved from http://www.npc.umich.edu/poverty/ 5. Usborne D. (2008), USA 2008: The Great Depression, Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/usa-2008-the-great-depression-803095.html 6. Van der Berg, S. (n. d.). Poverty and Education. UNESCO: International academy of education. Retrieved from http://www.iiep.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Info_Services_Publications/pdf/2009/EdPol10.pdf Read More