http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/30/opinion/sunday/3-tvs-and-no-food-growing-up-poor-in-america.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=2
I read this article over the past week and it spoke to me on many levels. The article talks about what I believe is a untouched and pushed aside topic in American Politics, Child Poverty. The article talks about several children who live in poverty and what their life is like. A day in the life includes, trying to stay away from recruitment into gangs, the temptation of drugs and other substances, stealing to get by, being too embarrassed to go to school because of the close they are wearing, and going to bed wondering when their next meal will come. The article states that "The United States has one of the highest rates of child poverty in the industrialized world." with, about 1/5 of children living in low income and poverty situations. This is a serious struggle and problem in our society that not only no one wants to talk about, but also it is a problem that many do not have a solution for.
I think this applies a lot to what we have been learning in class in regards to wealth inequality. I believe that often times ideas are centered around the international community, and that is what our class focuses on. But wealth inequality is very damaging even in America. Often times I hear the phrase "poor people in America really aren't poor". But I think that this phrase is untrue and hits America just as much as other countries. I believe that this can also tie into some of the critiques of Free trade. America is a society that has virtual free trade, yet even the people who live in the US don't seem to be benefitting.
Yes, I agree often times we tend to focus on international issues and not the problems at home. Child poverty is something that should be discussed more frequently. I think there are policies being suggested such as five dollars a day for food for children. Congress had cut over the last ten years 8.6 billion dollars for government aid for food. This has caused the increase in poverty where in 2007 it was 12/100 children needed food stamps where now its 20/100. http://portside.org/2015-04-23/numbers-are-staggering-us-world-leader-child-poverty-developed-countries
ReplyDeleteThis is a problem that must be addressed more seriously. Do you have any suggestions on what you think citizens of the U.S. should do in order to bring upon this issue at a national concern, or do you think it is something that people in the U.S. already understand?
I agree Stephen. Policies such as cutting funding over the last ten years to food has certainly not helped. And that begs the question of why our elected officials cut that money out, and where did it go? I think that this is a problem that is not easily addressed. I think that one step is making people in the U.S. aware of this problem. I think that while some people know about it, it is a topic that needs to be advocated for. If more people are made aware of it, people can write to their elected officials to vote in for more funding.
DeleteI think arguments about the fact that there are severe cases in the United States where poverty is still rampant and there are still countless families that need assistance will reverberate throughout the next few months after the election. I'm saying this because of Donald Trump's supposed protectionist economic clauses to stray from an economically globalized world and focus more on rebuilding America from the inside out. I wonder if that focus on domestic economy will trickle down to a more keen focus on domestic poverty, and not just a "an improved economy will raise standards of living for all," but also increase discussion of improving the welfare state. After all, The Republican President is proposing a more leftist economic agenda; might he also lean toward a more socially leftist one as well?
ReplyDeleteAdam i think you raise a good point. While I might not necessarily agree with everything Donald Trump plans to do, I hope that his policies will trickle down to the low income individuals and families in our society. While I don't think that we should ignore the impoverished of the world, I do think that if we can't feed people in our own country what message does that send? I don't believe that poverty will disappear, but I think we can reduce it to a point where it is more manageable.
DeleteYes that is an interesting factor to consider with Trump's proposition of focusing on the U.S. rather than worrying about a globalized economy. I wonder if child poverty will be an addressed issue Trump wants to surface. I think your final question would be difficult for a lot of people to answer. Trump in my opinion needs to gain more acceptance from people in the U.S. particularly minorities and people in inner cities. If Trump shows that child poverty, and poverty in general is a main concern to him it might spike up his popularity in these inner cities which would be in his best interest. For now we are going to have to wait and see.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we should focus on poverty at home as well. I think these attitudes can be damaging and come out of a lack of knowledge (especially about the differences between abject and relative poverty- both of which are serious and deserve to be recognized). There is also an idea that runs around that children who live in poverty are innocent and need to be helped. Obviously this is true. However, there are too many people who wish to do this without providing any forms of assistance to the parents of these children. This seems both impractical and immoral to me.
ReplyDeleteI think that to help these kids, we need to also help the families. The two go hand in hand because children cannot necessarily handle financial issues. But I think that we need to Be careful how we give out the aid to these families. I think that such things such as a drug test to receive aid. Yes children have little to no role in the reason they are in poverty. But a parent's life choices could be.
Delete