Introduction: Poverty Controversy in the USA
The essay provides a consistent discussion of poverty in the USA as well as verifies the standards of socioeconomic life in America against those, which exist in the developing countries. The description of the topic is provided by the overview of two newspaper articles that represent two contrastive views on the issues. These are 4 Shocking Examples of American Inequality by Buchhite and Editor’s Corner: Real Poverty Doesn’t Exist in America by Freeman.
The critical foundation for the writing is introduced by the controversy of poverty line definition. Thus, the discussed standpoints claim that the issue of poverty is extremely subjective since people view the concept through the lens of their personal experiences, views, and values. Therefore, in this paper, we set the aim to find out whether it is possible to specify the formula of poverty as well as estimate the ways, in which the problem is fought.
Freeman and His Theory of American Poverty Pretentiousness
In his article, Freeman discusses the issue of poverty from the point of view of a skeptic. He claims that the type of poverty, which exists in the US, is based on the inequality of human needs that depend upon the general level of life quality in separate countries. First, the author discusses the cases of poverty revelations, which occurred in such countries as the Dominican Republic and Ecuador.
According to Freeman the absence of electricity, air conditioning, and basic food provisions refer to the genuine socio-economic problem. In contrast to it, the insufficiencies, which are often identified as poverty in the USA, represent basic whims of the American citizens (Freeman 3). The statement, which is made by Freeman in his article, raises the issue of needs and non-needs.
In this context, the author puts a strong line of demarcation between the issues, which constitute a foundation for human existence and those, which can be disregarded since they do not decide between living and dying. Indeed, the contemporary generation of young Americans is obsessed with the Apple brand and some other luxury technical innovations. Due to it, the citizens of the USA, which can not afford iPhone or fashion brand clothes, are immediately correlated with impoverished people.
Still, the main point of Freeman’s argument is to prove that the separate parts of global society suffer from the problems that are much more serious than the whims of Americans. Specifically, a huge part of the African governments fight extensive famine and chronic diseases; children in Ecuador can not receive even primary education, for their parents can not purchase school uniforms.
In the opposite, the modern Americans identify that their main problems encompass unemployment, the absence of housing, and food shortage. Still, if one looks into the nature of these concerns, one might conclude that there exist quite simple solutions to the identified concerns. Mainly, if the US citizen loses his house, he may be assigned a subsidiary, which assists in purchasing the apartment. Lack of food is a pretentious problem as well, for it may be solved with the help of the so-called food stamps.
Finally, unemployment rates in America do not stem from the labor market conditions but rather define a specific choice of a citizen. Thus, a number of Americans simply do not agree to occupy certain posts for they strive for receiving a well-paid and prestigious job. As a consequence, the spheres of basic restaurant services, as well as manual work areas, lack employees.
Consequently, one may claim that poverty in America is predetermined by the citizens’ needs, which can not be identified with the characteristics of genuine impoverishment if one compares them to the needs of the communities from the third-world states.
Buchhite and his Statistical Argumentation of American Poverty
The poverty theory of Buchhite contradicts Freeman’s views on the needs of the US society. In his article, the author provides a detailed description of the American impoverishment sources, which is supported by statistic data. According to Buchhite, the socio-economic problems have a firm ground in the US society.
The writer provides a consistent justification for the crisis. Thus, he claims that there is a strong unequal distribution of resources in the community of Americans. Specifically, Buchhite argues that a small part of the US citizens control an excessive amount of financial resources. As a result, the rest of the country budget belongs to the middle and low social classes, which struggle through unemployment and some other economic problems (Buchhite 2).
The poverty crisis in the US has demographic character. Mainly, it is acknowledged that the citizens, which inhabit the North of America, do not only live in impoverishment but have no access to mobility provisions as well. It means that it is hard for them to leave their native lands. The subjects of impoverishment in the USA are not as serious as in the countries of the third world. However, the problems stand out due to the extreme polarity of financial capital distribution.
Thus, there exists a bottom class in the US, the representatives of which, own even smaller part of the national capital than the citizens of developing countries. This fact is striking since the general economic wealth, and industry progression in America is much higher than in the other parts of the world. The author emphasizes that there is a simple solution to the poverty problem in the USA.
Specifically, due to the progressive stock market, the central government of America may afford imposing wealth taxes on the Americans, which would reduce the financial gap between the community members. Indeed, with the new regulation, it would be easy to control the levels of social incomes in the society, which could change the general market distribution and open up the new opportunities for the impoverished citizens.
Connecting Poverty and Whim: Seeking for Truth
Despite two theories, which are overviewed in the work, seem to rebut each other, they may be connected in one consistent description of American poverty and its fundamental implications. In my opinion, both views are quite objective and have solid justifications. Thus, the polarity of financial incomes is certified by the statistic data, and the whimsical nature of the citizens’ needs is supported by the estimation of the general demands of an average American.
The theory of socio-economic instability and poverty, which exists in the USA, can be exclaimed by the discriminatory nature of social relations that evolve in the American community. Thus, if I refer to my personal experience of communicating with the US citizens, I can make a conclusion that poverty and inequality in America stem from race and ethnic discriminations as well as demographic inequality.
For instance, one of my Afro-American friends, who is an official resident of the USA, claims that it is much harder for black people to receive a subsidy in America than for the white citizens. In this context, the picture of a “privileged white American” evolved. According to the outcomes of the poverty estimation in America, the prevailing number of impoverished citizens belongs to minority groups. The roots of financial problems among the Americans also stem from foreign-born families.
Moreover, it is acclaimed that the number of the US jobless females is twice less than the number of males. Consequently, such types of discrimination as race, ethnic, and gender biases impact the nature of the American poverty (Adeola 54).
Conclusion: Identification of American Poverty
In this work, the assessment of poverty in the USA is provided. According to two theories, which are estimated in the paper, impoverishment is a significant problem for a number of Americans, who belong to low and middle social classes. However, the subjects and reasons, which position the citizens as poor people, do not correspond to the basic problems that exist in the countries of the third world.
Finally, it was proved that the primary source of American poverty is the income polarity, which puts a strong distinction line between the financial capitals of the average US citizens. The reason for the demarcation refers to inequality as a defining feature of the community.
Specifically, in the USA, the citizens with low incomes primarily belong to various ethnic minority groups, Afro-Americans, and Mexicans as well as females. Therefore, it is a challenge for the American government to reduce the level of income gap through discrimination disposal and the introduction of wealth taxation.
Works Cited
Adeola, Francis. “Racial and Class Divergence in Public Attitudes and Perceptions about Poverty in the USA: An Empirical Study.” Race, Gender & Class 12.2 (2005): 53-80. Print.
Buchhite, Paul. “4 Shocking Examples of American Inequality.” Salon. 2014: 2. Print.
Freeman, Zachary. “Editor’s Corner: Real Poverty Doesn’t Exist in America. “The College Conservative. 2012: 3. Print.