Poverty In US Essays - , Term Papers, Research Papers

Poverty In US Poverty in the United States is getting worse each day and not enough is getting done about it. The readings from "Babies and Benefits" by Sheila Holbrook-White, the article on poverty by Michael J. Paquette, and "Keeping Women And Children Last" by Ruth Sidel made me view the issues of poverty in a different way. I never realised what kind of people were living in poverty, and the true reasons why they are there. What amazes me the most is how much these people need help, and how little the government is doing to help them. The government should set up work programs for these people to help them get better jobs and make enough money to survive. The politicians in Washington D.C. and all over the U.S. want nothing more than to cut back on government funding for the people in poverty. The government doesn't believe that most of the people actually need this money from AFDC. They can't get it because they don't meet the proper criteria set by the government. Either they're not poor enough, they're not poor in the right way ? or they need the money for the wrong reasons. The reading in the book Keeping Woman and Children Last, showed time and time again the shocking stories of how people fall into poverty after living a middle class life for decades. Reasons pertaining to illness, death, unemployment, divorce and accidents left these people with nothing and the government would refuse to help them. These people are called the "New Poor"(Sidel, 1998, p.60). Their social security and pensions are not enough for them to live on so they must rely on these funds to help. "With marriage being touted today as a central route out of poverty, few critics of the choices and behaviour of poor woman speak about marriage as a path into poverty."(Sidel, 1998, p.60) I never thought that marriage could lead to poverty until I read this story from "Keeping Women And Children Last". A welfare worker married one of her clients and ended up on welfare because of her marriage. She married a man who had " little education, a drug problem and an alcohol problem."(Sidel, 1998, p.60) Their marriage fell apart because of his abuse to his wife and children and the woman was forced to go for help from the place where she used to work, a welfare office. They got back together eventually after he came out of a rehabilitation program. He then started with the drugs and alcohol again and she was force to leave him to apply for AFDC. "Those who are stigmatising welfare recipients do not point to all those young mothers who are valiantly caring for their children on meager AFDC checks while struggling to complete their education."(Sidel, 1998, p.63) Parent who receive AFDC checks that are going back to school to better qualify themselves for better jobs in order to better provide for their families. One woman came off the streets of New York City and went from begging at supermarkets to attending Columbia University through their Higher Education Opportunities Program (HEOP). " She is constantly fearful that HEOP will be cut back and that "welfare reform" will force her to quit school and go back to work full time." (Sidel, 1998, p.64) These people need help while they are in school, but welfare reform is not the kind of help they need. These programs should receive more government funding to not just better the people and help the children but to better society. Some people are also saying that single mothers have more children to receive more money from the AFDC. This is where the term "woman have babies for benefits"(Holbrook-white, 1998, p.1) comes from. Politicians like Bob James and Robert Rector believes that these women are cheating the system. Study's have shown that even though AFDC benefits have fallen across the nation 47% since 1970, single mother childbearing has nearly doubled. Statistics in Alabama show that more than half the babies born in Alabama are unplanned. I feel that these cutbacks on welfare reform are just excuses to spend less on the poor and more on the wealthy. The statistics on specific ethnic groups are ridiculous. 33% of Hispanics live in poverty. Sidel shows that that the average white family income is $20,000 more than the average black family income. She also shows that "Connecticut, one of the richest states in the nation, has since passed one of the most restricted welfare bills adopted by any