Do you believe poverty REALLY exists in the USA?

Question

If you do try visiting South America.

Answer 1

I agree with your point, Mano. I have recently spent an extendedn amount of time in Central America and (even though it's not S. America) I have come away with a completely different perspective of poverty. My experience has given me much more insight into the things I see on TV, etc about Africa, too. The tragedy is that in addition to people being poor, they are also disempowered, which is to say that they have a minimal ability to do anything about their proverty. The condition is structural/politcal, not just economic, and it is not because the governments can't do something about it. Poor, needy, disempowered people are much easier to control, and manipulate, and are less of a threat than people with means and resources. This is a tradition in Latin America, and those who control the resources and power have no interest in changing the situation.

There is indeed poverty in the USA, but it's relative, because of the high cost of living there. You can live a decent life on $500/month in say, Ecuador, even raise a family, and maybe get a mortgage and credit cards. ($500/mth means you have a good job.) But in the USA, it get's you hardly anything at all. But, there is an ever present chance of being able to overcome your situation in the USA, which other nations don't have. And that makes, literally, all of the difference in the world.

Answer 2

If you mean having so little that survival would be in doubt, then the answer is only a small number because the government and charities provide for basic necessities for most. The actual expenditures of households below the poverty line is almost double their income. There are some who fall through the cracks in the social services, the mentally ill for example are a sizable portion of the homeless. If you count those who would be in poverty were in not for the outside help they receive, the number is significant. Many more live so close to the edge that a job loss or an illness would push them into true poverty were it not for the programs available.

Answer 3

I do believe that poverty does exist in the United States.

Most of the people who are truly living in poverty here in the United States have come from other countries (i.e. South America, etc.) and still haven't experienced and/or lived "the American Dream".

Poverty also comes in other forms as well, such as living in despair because of illness, etc.

Have a lovely rest of the day.

Answer 4

Poverty is relative. In the country of the penniless, a man with pocket change is a king. Conversely, in modern America, someone who shares a two-bedroom apartment with three roommates and earns minimum wage working 60 hours a week is, in fact, poor... Granted, it's a much better lifestyle than living in a Brazilian favela, but it is still a lifestyle below that to which the majority is accustomed...

Answer 5

Yes, it does exist, and sometimes it is the persons/parents choice. I knew a family that lived in the Swamps of NC. the last house on a dead end road.

No running water in the house. NO bathroom facilities = not even an outhouse. 7 children, the boys "went" behind the trees and wiped with leaves. The girls had a pee pot to use. At bath time the water was heated up and starting with the youngest they all used the same bath water in the same med sized tub.

When I went down there to bring this family back up to IL there was very little food in the house.. the kids had "no" shoes, "no" tooth brushes, "no" hair brushes.. and all the clothing was dirty.

I brought them North and had gotten the parents jobs and a nice house to live in and they got help with filling the house with furniture from Salvation Army.

Things went ok for a few months until the School System confronted the parents about keeping the older children out of school to "baby-sit". Let them know that was not acceptable in Illinois.

They moved back to NC and the kids continued to live in poverty while the parents went to the taverns and ate pizza while the 7 kids had one can of beans with 1 hot dog.. The MOM used to brag that she could feed them all week long on 7 cans of beans and a lb of hot dogs.

Poverty exists in America.... sometimes by choice.

And for those of us that have tried to help the children.. our hearts ache.

I COULD ONLY HELP THE 14 YR OLD THAT GOT PG = I connected her up with her real Dad and life got very good for her.
The others ??

2/3 still live down in the Swamps and live in squaller but in mobile homes= so they have come up in the world.. ... and some of the others made it out with the help of Church and the love of people.

POVERTY.. NOT ALWAYS A CHOICE = BUT SOMETIMES
In our family it hides someplace down in the swamps of NC

AND guards against letting us in............ My Heart Weeps

Answer 6

Every country has poverty...are you saying because you don't see the poverty as much as South America or Africa or China..means it's not as bad. It still means people still have to live without necessities regardless of how many people in each country.

Answer 7

It's all relative! You can officially be below the US poverty line, and still be far better off than the vast majority of people on earth. That's why poor people in America are often fat. Even homeless winos usually have some downtown infrastructure to take shelter in, which most of the world's poor don't have.

Answer 8

you're right, south america and many other underdeveloped areas of the world are very poverty stricken, but that doesn't mean that poverty doesn't exist here. have you ever lived for several weeks eating nothing but malt o meal because you can't afford to go to the store and buy food? it's not pleasant.

Answer 9

Ah, friend, but just because things are far worse in South Africa, it doesn't mean that there aren't those trapped by poverty here as well. Let us pray that we can address the kind of extreme poverty that exists in Africa -- as well as the poverty here at home.

Answer 10

All countries have rich and poor people. It's just that government help the disadvantaged more here than in South America.