Poverty in America Is Mainstream Article Review

The article found in the New York Times asserts that societies in America hold many myths and stereotypes surrounding poverty. Some of the myths and misconceptions held by American societies are poverty affects a small population of Americans, the inner city dwellers are mostly affected by poverty, poverty is an outcome of not working hard and too much aid on citizens breed poverty among individuals (Lewis, 2017). Interestingly, the articles point out that large percentage of the American population is negatively affected by poverty as opposed to beliefs of the societies. Research shows that 40% of Americans experience poverty in early stages of life and 54% spends one year in poverty before they get rich. Four out of five citizens in America do experience unemployment and near poverty at some stages in their lives (The NewYork Times). Almost half of the population of children in America dwells in a household that uses food stamps for a particular period of time. Therefore, the article opines that poverty in America is mainstream or idea.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Majority of American experience poverty as just a mere mainstream because most of the time that they spend in poverty is very short and could not affect their social lives. There is a misleading image of the social media that America is stricken by poverty. Most Americans experience poverty for a period of almost two years then they become rich which makes the phenomenon a mainstream. The author of the article opines that losing job and splitting of the family due domestic violence causes the minor issues of poverty in America (The NewYork Times). Poverty is not only found in towns but is spread everywhere in a country in that it can be found in urban areas as well as in small communities in rural areas. The article holds that poverty is spread with respect to time and place and therefore there is no area or time designated for poverty. There is also the stereotype that individuals affected by poverty are non-whites but the author believes that is a myth because research depicts that almost two-thirds of poverty-stricken people are whites.

Moreover, the generous assistance offered to citizens in America contributes to absolute poverty because they just wait for donors to give them basic needs such as food and clothing. The social safety of Americans is extremely weak and therefore throws many of its citizens into poor states. For instance, the budget-cutting policies, as well as reforms in welfare sectors, has made the poverty rates to drastically increase in the last decade (Lough, 2017). From my perspective, poverty in America is just mainstream because the United States is a superpower controlling everything around the world. Every person in the US is able to afford basic needs which means that the article is full of myths about the state of poverty in America. According to the author, industrialized states like America do not have extreme poverty that hits in news headlines like CNN and The New York Times because there is the availability of employment in the factories and industries.

Conclusion

To conclude, the author asserts that poverty in American societies is relatively low compared to other developed countries like China and Australia. Lack of motivation causes increased rates of poverty in a country because people fail to work extra hard. Generally, poverty phenomenon in America is mainstream since it is lack of proper economic policies that make societies to experience high poverty rates that would otherwise be eradicated by political leaders.

References

Poverty in America Is Mainstream. (n.d.). The NewYork Times.

Lough, A. W. (2017). The Annotated Works of Henry George: Progress and Poverty (Vol. 2). Rowman & Littlefield.

Lewis, O. (2017). The culture of poverty. In Poor Jews (pp. 9-25). Routledge.