Poverty in the USA

Poverty in the USA
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Poverty in the USAAmerica is one of the first world countries, but poverty that cannot be associated with its class still exists. For instance, diseases and malnutrition cause substantially truncated life expectation. Poverty is widespread in other countries such as India; people have no food to eat and money to spend. However, it is different in the US because even with underdeveloped welfare, there is no huge starvation. Here, poverty is all about lack of security and requirements, citizens worry about how to get food and how to settle bills. These might be caused by too much reliance private charities and on the imperfect government (Procopio & Perella, 1976). Poverty is usually passed from one generation to another which is different in America as it is where we find constant upward movement.
Moreover, poverty has many causes in the US. For instance, there is a considerable gap between the cost of housing and the income earning; this leads to lack of affordable housing and complicated lives of millions of citizens. Some companies in the United States have closed down, and others have been forced to deploy its workers, some have opted to move to foreign countries to pay low labor cost. These companies have a direct impact on the economy, the rate of unemployment has led to a poor economy. The system of quality jobs and good salaries is slowly becoming a mystery in the USA. The unemployed have a hard time finding new jobs due to high competition and the job scarcity.

These leave not only personalities poor but also their families and may result in homelessness as well.
On the other hand, there are two classes in the US, the upper can take their children to good colleges, and they can acquire good degrees whereas the lower class cannot afford. Therefore, lack of education stands as the primary cause of poverty because these people from lower class can only get jobs with very small wages; this, in turn, puts their families in poverty. Again, about 20% of the poor are affected by drug abuse. Drugs are very addictive since they dominate their lives, the little they receive are used to buy drugs like cocaine which is about 100 dollars. The cost of drugs and alcohol for heavy takers can bring a great effect on the economy, absenteeism and low efficiency at leads to low salaries and even loss of jobs. In the end, these families might end up very poor and homeless.
US citizens as compared to every other human being can develop serious illness and would require immediate treatment. These illnesses come at unanticipated times and would require expensive medication, surgery, prolonged stays in hospitals, and further procedures. Take cancer; for instance, a patient has to go through chemotherapy which is 30,000 dollars in 8-week cure. These medical expenses can, therefore, lead to poverty and more on lower class families.
Regardless of the causes of poverty, its effects can be hostile. As earlier mentioned, poverty can be hereditary. It affects children and can last a lifetime that is; the probability of a poor child becoming a poor adult is high. Young girls’ drops out of school and become teenage parents with no employment (Shannon, 1998). These low-income families have a risk of domestic violence and even divorce due to stress. Handling household basics usually are stressing even to well-off families; the low-income families have more stress on the burden of regular family issues and poverty. Wealthy families can counteract with these family problems, but the poor have little resources to deal with them hence complicating their lives.
The rate of health problems on the poor is very high. These include mental illness, high infant mortality rate, and premature adulthood mortality (Seccombe, 2000). Above are due to reduced medication and inadequate nutrition for the infants which then affect their behaviors and health, these create a huge impact on their school work and landing to poor or no employment opportunities in future. Most of the needy families are underinsured or not insured; they seek medication on the cheaper hospital which very crowded and with less staff. Lack of money, poor health and bad behaviors like unhealthy diet and smoking worsens their health conditions. Poor health is hence a significant product of poverty.
Low-income families send their children to rundown schools which have inadequate learning facilities. Rich children go to good schools with a good environment for studying and end up with high-grade degrees. Lack of proper education restricts these children and their families to poverty hence the brutal cycle of poverty. Irrespective of the poor performance by the poor children, education problem, is another result of poverty. Again, the poor are probably homeless or live in decrepit houses. Their income covers house to rent, and due to low income, they live in poor areas with neither job opportunities nor good schools. Lack of suitable housing for the lower class remains a disaster nationwide.
Crime and victimization are mostly associated with the homeless in the streets. For survival, they practice robbery, homicide, and theft. There is a thin line between street crimes and poverty; poor people are stressed of their states in poverty. Mostly, their homes are in high-crime localities, and children grow up and follow the footsteps of their elders who are gangs. Today, 80% of people in jails and prisons come from the poor or average background (Evans, 2004). These criminal behaviors and victimization are the fruits of poverty.
Conclusively, the rate of poverty in the USA has remained steady at 15.9%. The main problem is with the high unemployment rates and low salaries in utmost 27 states. Most of the unemployed end up exhausting unemployment insurance. There is an increased rate of concentrated poverty which is worse than the income inequity. The lives and incomes of these people are worsening from one generation to the other which calls for attention and a need for different policies.
References
Evans, G. W. (2004). The environment of childhood poverty. American Psychologist, 59(2), 77.
Poverty profile USA: in the eighties. (1985). Washington, D.C. (1312 Massachusetts Ave, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20005): Produced by the Office of Pub. And Promotion Services for the Campaign for Human Development, United States Catholic Conference.
Procopio, M., & Perella Jr, F. J. (1976). Poverty Profile USA.
Seccombe, K. (2000). Families in poverty in the 1990s: Trends, causes, consequences, and lessons learned. Journal of Marriage and Family, 62(4), 1094-1113.
Shannon, P. (1998). Reading Poverty. Heinemann, 88 Post Road West, Box 5007, Westport, CT 06881-5007; Fax: 203-222-1502.