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Since the 1960s, the United States Government has
defined poverty in absolute terms. This makes
poverty more easily measurable.
The "absolute poverty line" is the threshold below
which families or individuals are considered to be
lacking the resources to meet the basic needs for
healthy living; having insufficient income to provide
the food, shelter and clothing needed to preserve
health.
A large percentage of the governments poverty
measurements depend on the price of food.
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"Relative poverty" can be defined as having
significantly less access to income and wealth
than other members of society. Therefore, the
relative poverty rate can directly be linked to
income inequality.
Means relative poverty can decline if rich
people lose a lot of money.
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The current poverty measure was established in the 1960s and is
now widely acknowledged to be outdated. It was based on
research indicating that families spent about one-third of their
incomes on food — the official poverty level was set by
multiplying food costs by three. Since then, the same figures have
been updated annually for inflation but have otherwise remained
unchanged.
Yet food now comprises only one-seventh of an average family’s
expenses, while the costs of housing, child care, health care, and
transportation have grown disproportionately. Most analysts agree
that today’s poverty thresholds are too low. And although there is
no consensus about what constitutes a minimum but decent
standard of living in the U.S., research consistently shows that, on
average, families need an income of about twice the federal
poverty level to meet their most basic needs.
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46 million Americans live below the official
poverty line.
One in 5 American children now lives in
poverty.
A family of four is considered poor if the
family’s income is below $22,350.
One third of all Americans will experience
poverty within a 13-year period. In that
period, one in 10 Americans are poor for
most of the time, and one in 15 are poor for
10 or more years.
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Fifteen percent-- approximately 46 million people -now live below the federal poverty line of $22,350
for a family of four. (A woefully inadequate
measure that is terribly old and fails to account for
basic necessities.) That's millions more people than
in 2000 and the poverty rate for children is the
highest of all age groups. Nearly 90 million people
live just above the poverty line. (Using the British
standard of measurement, approximately 30 percent
of Americans --and 40 percent of American children
-- are living in poverty).
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Eighteen percent of children are in poverty.
10.9 percent of working-age adults (between
the ages of 16 and 64) are in poverty.
9.7 percent of the elderly are in poverty.
13.8 percent of females and 11.1 percent of
males were poor
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Federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour
Some states and localities have mandated a higher
minimum wage
Minimum wage in New York state is also $7.25
Minimum wage in Kansas in 2009 was $2.65 before
the Federal Minimum wage was instituted
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Inequality has reached record highs. The richest 1
percent of Americans in 2012 held the largest share
of the nation’s income since 1929. At the same time,
the poorest 20 percent of Americans held only 3.4
percent of the nation’s income.
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Urban areas have a poverty rate of 17%,
compared to a poverty rate of 9% for the
suburbs.
White flight
No new businesses = no jobs
Higher crime rates
Higher rates of pollution
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Poverty rate in the South is 20%.
One in 5 people living in rural America lives
below the poverty line.
Poverty rates are higher in rural areas for
almost every demographic.
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Nearly a third of Native Americans live in poverty.
The country's 2.1 million Indians, about 400,000 of
whom live on reservations, have the highest rates of
poverty, unemployment and disease of any ethnic
group in America.
Indians earn only a little more than half as much
money as the average American.
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Lower education— Low levels of parental education
are a primary risk factor for being low income.
Eighty-three percent of children whose parents have
less than a high school diploma live in low-income
families, and over half of children whose parents
have only a high school degree are low income as
well.
New to the country
Don’t possess marketable skills
Has a disability
Single parent households
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Poverty—is it the fault of the individual or society?
People who blame society tend to argue that forces
like capitalism and racism are to blame for domestic
poverty.
People who blame the individual tend to focus on
factors like individual will and personal choices for
why domestic poverty exists.
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Social services—are they a right that cannot be
taken away or are they a privilege that can be taken
away?
Are social services like health care and subsidized
housing and food a human right?
Governments can provide negative rights and
positive rights. Negative right = something the
government won’t interfere with or take away (life,
liberty, pursuit of cash).
Positive right = something the government provides
or gives you.
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Poverty—is it even possible to eliminate it?
Even if it is possible, are the cures worst than the
disease?
Is there an acceptable level of poverty that we can
be content with?