Week 2 Persepectives on Poverty

1.) Who do you think is poor, both in the United States and globally?

This week after learning the new material I had not even realized how the geographical location that a person(s) live in would and could also effect how much money they can make. The standard of living can change from city to city and even from one state to another. I think that if a family can not take care of their kids in a health situation, even if they are working but they are fearful of their kids getting sick because they can not afford medicine or even a doctor's visit then they would be, in my opinion, poor.

2.) Why do you believe poor people are poor in the United States and globally?
This week's lesson taught me to change a bit of why I thought that people are poor in the United States and around the world. Now, I can see that many of the poor people in our nation could be poor based on their location where they reside, or perhaps because they can not get out of a bad neighborhood or area that they are in. In the power point it stated that almost the majority of people living in poverty were in the South. That definitely took me by surprise, I was expecting the number to be less, also most were African American and Hispanics. The power point also said that almost 40% of the people that were located in areas of poverty lacked even a high school diploma. This could be a major factor as to why people are poor in the US as well as in any other country, and why certain areas could have more or less of a poverty issue.

4.) What do you personally think should be done about poverty in the United States and globally?
Last week my views and ideas were that the united states was doing a good job in preventing and helping to fix the problem of poverty. Now I have to change just one thing about my response. I do think that the United States does very much and a well job in helping people of all types and ages to overcome this problem, however after this week, i think that there could be more emphasis put on the idea of education, and helping to provide places and school, and materials to all the children that are located in those areas that are highest in the nation for poverty. Perhaps helping them finish school and get even a high school diploma would help them to see how to further their knowledge and would want to pursue even more education or get jobs.

My Idea's On Poverty

I believe that each person has their own idea of what it is to be poor and what poverty consists of, and I believe that that is fine, and each one of us should be allowed to express what we believe and how we each feel about it. This is why I enjoyed having to think about and answer these four questions because not only do I have the opportunity to get my ideas across but I can also have people see what i believe and what I understand to be the meaning of poverty. 

1)      Who do you think is poor, both in the United States and globally?

        In my personal opinion a family that consists of perhaps three or more people living under the same house and not to mention with young children and making anywhere along the lines of 25,000 dollars or less would have to be considered poor. I don't think that there is any way that an income like that would be able to support a family and give them not even the "wants" in life but the necessities that they would need in order to survive. Globally however, in my opinion it takes much less than that to be considered poor. In many countries the people do not even have a means for any income much less a "small" one by our terms. They live on a day to day basis with out even the help of their government or those around them. 

2)      Why do you believe people are poor in the United States and globally?

         In my personal opinion I think that a majority (not all) of the poor people in the United States are poor because they do not have the motivation and the drive that they require in order to move up in life and try to better themselves. Many of the poor people could just as easily have a job even in a fast food restaurant and try and make a small income for themselves to try and pay for food and for clothing that they could use to better their life and health as well as their appearance.  Another major reason for poor people both here in the US as well as globally us that wide and growing use of alcohol and drugs that sometimes lead people in the wrong direction and to lose everything that they once had or could have had, leaving them with nothing and out in the streets. 

3)      What do you think is being done about poverty (e.g., specific policies and programs in the United States and globally) and how well do you think poverty is being addressed?

        In my opinion the United States is doing a good job with helping in the fields of poverty and those in need. They offer opportunities like tax deductions, living assistance, disaster reliefs, child care and child support; just to name a few. My parents were unfortunate enough to not be able to pay for any of my college. I live at home right now and I was given HOPE to pay for school as well as took out loans. All of these options are available to anyone in need and they are there for us to take and use them to our benefits. Unfortunately I have not had the privilege of being able to travel and visit many countries but from what I cans see and hear on the news and from school I know that not many of these if not non of these opportunities are available in other countries and therefor not much is being done to help those in need. 

4)      What do you personally think should be done about poverty in United States and globally (e.g., specific private and government policies, programs, etc. that you would recommend)?

        Personally, I think that the United States has done and is doing everything in their power to get people off the streets and lead them in the right directions with the opportunities and benefits they are providing to all their citizens. I would hope that other countries would take these and also offer these same opportunities to the people in those countries and take it as a means of help and perhaps then their economy would rise and the standard of living would as well.