Poverty in the United States

Introduction

The incidences of poverty in the United States have been on the rise to such an extent that in 2011, over 46 million people have been categorized as poor. The poverty rate in the US has risen significantly in the last four years, implying that there is a deepening economic recession. The incidences of poverty in the United States vary across the different populations according to their age, race, the family living arrangement and the other issues such as education and job position. According to the official definition of poverty in the United States, an average family with four members was considered poor when the income tax was below twenty three thousand dollars per year. The level of poverty tends to follow the economic cycle, in which the level of poverty rises when the economy is unstable and falls when the economy exhibits a sustained growth. However, even when the economy recovers, the poverty does not begin to decrease until the expansion of the economy starts. Poor economic laws have resulted in the elevation of poverty in the United States. The crucial elements, which could be employed for the eradication of poverty, are the reduction of the low-income marriages. In the current economy, most of the children are born out of the wedlock, which has significantly increased single parent homes.

Poverty in the Minority Groups

Poverty is mostly concentrated among several groups, especially in the minority groups. For instance, poverty is concentrated among women and children, the old and the unemployed. Impacts of poverty affect those with low level of education more. In 1998, 25% of all the African Americans lived in poverty. Furthermore, the families headed by the single mothers are more susceptible to poverty.  The incidences of poverty amongst Hispanics and the African Americans exceed that of whites (Mangum et al., 2003). The poverty rates amongst the immigrant American citizens are higher than that of the Native Americans (Harlow & Webb, 2003). The number of single parent women continually increases, which leads to the elevation in demand and supply of women participation in the low wage labor force. Women are facing increasing pressures in their households forcing them to find sources of income to be able to hold their families together. This relates to the demographic and social changes rising rates of non-marriage and separations amongst households. For instance, women head more than 30 percent of the Latin American families. These women are the principle breadwinners, and they contribute more of the total household income.  The economic distribution of women in the different racial and the ethnic minorities groups is unique. For instance, there exist a number of reasons, which includes the size of the groups under investigation and the circumstances of geographical location and the prejudice about the suitability of the occupational roles of each of the group members.

Poverty and Poor Health in the United States

Persistent income inequality and poverty in the United States are on the rise and continue to increase since 2000. According the previous studies, there is a link between poor health and poverty for all the age groups. Those with lower income tend to report poor health. For the age group that is eligible for the Medicare insurance, poor health decreases from the lowest income groups thus narrowing the gaps (Casper & Bianchi, 2002). This attributes to the selective mortality. This could be because most of the people died before reaching their oldest age bracket. Furthermore, Medicaid is a health program for certain people and families who have low income and limited resources. It is a program jointly funded by the State and the federal government in all the states.  Medicaid services provide the United States citizens inclusive of the low-income adults and their siblings. It also provides help to people with certain disabilities to access medical services. Medicaid is one of the biggest sources of funds for medical services for people who have a limited source of income. Medicaid recipients go into a private medical health plan, which is responsible for the provision of the medical services for all recipients of the healthcare needs. In some of the states, the Medicaid operations works best for the private healthcare insurance. Medicaid owes its birth to the social security amendment introduced to provide healthcare and nursing coverage to certain categories of low-income people.

Economic influences of poverty in the United States

There are over 49 million people in the United States living in poverty. High numbers of the poor people affect the state of economy and the productivity of the nation.  If the economy is messed up, unemployment rises, making the poverty incidences worsen. Poverty undermines the economy of the world by undermining the economy of the country through hindering the normal growth of the capital.  This is because poverty undermines the education, professional experience and health related issues (Wallace, 2003). These are the main drivers of the economic growth. It implies that the increased incidences of poverty thrive the elevation of the unemployment rates, lack of education results in uneducated workforce. Poverty also results in threatening of people’s health, hence threatening the economy.

Poverty and Social Welfare

Arguably, from the political and the ideological spectrum, the American social welfare system has failed. Since the onset of the war on poverty in 1965, the United States has spent trillion dollars trying to ease the plight of the poor.  The welfare system has failed the taxpayers (Brien, 2004). There are many proposed welfare reforms, which include the blocking of grants by the welfare systems. Therefore, the effects of the welfare system are controversial in the United States. This is because the goal of the welfare programs is to reduce poverty in the United States. There has been heated debate on whether the welfare system achieves this goal. The supporters of the welfare believe that it has played a crucial role in reduction of poverty.  The previous studies have indicated that poverty has decreased significantly since the adoption of the program on the welfare systems.  Some of the evidence point out that the taxes paid reduce significantly poverty in most countries. The opponents argue that the welfare has created negative incentives for people not to find work, therefore; it has sustained or created poverty.

Conclusion

The incidences of poverty have been on the rise to such an extent that in 2011, over 46 million people fell under the poor category in the United States. Poverty is concentrated among selected groups, especially in the minority groups. For instance, poverty is concentrated among women and children, the mere old and the unemployed. The welfare system has failed the taxpayers. There are many proposed welfare reforms, which includes the blocking of grants by the welfare systems. Therefore, the effects of the welfare system are controversial in the United States. Poverty undermines the education, professional experience and health related issues. These are the main drivers of the economic growth.