Poverty in American Society

Introduction

Hunger is an uncomfortable feeling in the stomach due to lack of food. Almost every human knows what hunger feels like and fortunately many people are easily able to stop their hunger by having food at their disposal. It is not about just putting food in the stomach, it is about living a healthy lifestyle, as well. Kids who are not getting proper nutrition tend to have physical and mental health effects. Often People living in poverty are willing to commit a crime in order to fulfill necessities of their life. When people are desperate to feed their families, they go for extreme measures to provide food to their families, and this is one of the major reasons behind the increase in criminal activities in USA.

We live in a reality characterized by structural, social inequality and deepening poverty is the result of the changing role of the state and its economic policies. Poverty is a puzzling fact. America was the envy of the world's largest economy, is now 46 million people living in poverty, taking into account that the population has grown. There are two kinds of poverty, absolute, or lack of basic needs like food, water, education, information, technology and infant mortality and relative poverty, which is measured according to how poor we are in relation to others (Lepianka, 421). There are many people lucky and blessed who are able to have food whenever they feel like having it, they are blessed to have such a wonderful and health life. At the same time, we also have bitter facts about poor people; they are not able to fulfill daily necessities of life. Those people, families are not miles away from us, but they are right here among us. In America, there are children, who we see every day out in the street, hungry with no warm clothes, and we are busy living our own lives. Hunger and poverty is an important issue that cannot be ignored anymore. In this paper, I shall discuss some of the government policies on fighting poverty, contribution of local public in the elimination of poverty and helping hungry kids. We can save hunger and remove poverty from our society if everybody takes out just 2 percent of their savings.

Discussion

Why is poverty such a problem in one of the richest countries in the world? What is the government trying to do to help end poverty? According to the U.S. Census bureau, in 2009 18 percent of families in Illinois were living below poverty level, which was a very high statistic. Minimum wage in Illinois is $8.25, and that is almost $17,161 a year. It is becoming harder and harder for everyone having a wife and kids to survive with this amount of salary per year (Billitteri, 721). According to U.S. minimum wage history, the minimum wage in 1968 was $7.42. It did not just help the workers to be more productive, but it also helped them to provide daily necessities for their ...