Poverty Vs. The Economy Essay -- Poor Poverty Economics Essays

Poverty vs. The Economy Poverty is a lack of goods and services necessary to maintain a minimal adequate standard of living. The definition of the term adequate varies, however, with the general standard of living in a society and with public attitudes toward deprivation. No university accepted definition of basic needs exists because poverty is a relative concept. In poorer countries it means living at the brink of subsistence, while in our country few improvised families confront starvation, although many suffer from undernourishment. A key issue in the area of poverty is inequality. Inequality has been a problem in all societies. No society distributes income evenly. Despite all the conceptual and technical problems of measurement, the government has devised a widely cited poverty index that reflects the different consumption requirements of families depending on their size and composition, on the sex and age of the family head, and on weather they live in rural or urban areas. Based on past surveys, the designers of the poverty index determined that families of three or more person spend approximately one-third of their income on food. Thus, the poverty level for these families was, therefore, set at three times the cost of the economy food plan. For smaller families and persons living alone, the cost of the economy food plan was multiplied by higher factors in order to compensate for the larger fixed expenses of smaller households. The poverty thresholds are updated every year to reflect changes in the consumer price index but overall rises in standard of living. (levington, page 147) Another issue is that the poverty index has several flaws. First, it does not allow for regional variations in the cost of living or for higher costs in the central city areas, where many of the poor are concentrated. Second, the flood costs for the budget were designed for temporary or emergence use and are thus inadequate for a perment diet because they provide only the barest subsistence. Finally, the government statistics fall to take into consideration nonmonetary benefits and assets in determining the number of poor. If these were counted, the numbers in the official poverty ranks would be reduced. The growing gap between the poverty level and median family income demonstrates the inaccuracy of adjusting a poverty level for price ... ...easy. Birth control and maternal care, designed to give children a better start in life, also leave the mother in a better position to become economically self sufficient or, at least, contribute to her own support. Similarly, the difference between cash subsides and rehabilitative programs is often blurred, for instance, stipends are necessary for the poor if they are to complete an effective training program. These various strategies for helping the poor complement each other. Not only must today's poverty be alleviated through cash and in-and aid, but steps must be taken to reduce it in the future by better preparing young people and by giving the poor a better chance in the job market. Bibliography Fitchen,Janet M.(1981). Poverty and Rural America New York,York: Random house Publishing Company. Jansson, Bruce S. (1988). The Reluctant Welfare State, A History of Amercians Social Welfare Policies. Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Company. Katz, Michael B. (1990) The Undeserving Poor the War on Poverty to the war on Welfare, New York, New York. Levitan, Sar A. And Shapiro, Issac. (1987), Working But Poor. New York, New York: The free Press.