Healthcare Policies & the Poor

I believe health-care is a major problem in the United States given the following statistics from our lecture…

1. More than 50 million people do not have health insurance
2. 10 percent of children do not have health insurance
3. Hispanics have the highest rate of uninsured children
4. Nearly 30 percent of American have governmental health insurance
5. Elderly are the most likely to have health insurance
6. Higher health insurance costs compared to other countries
7. One of the lowest life expectancy among 30 industrialized nations
8. High infant mortality rate

I do not understand why the United States has such a high infant mortality rate compared to other industrialized countries. It does not make sense. The United States prides itself on medical advancements yet we can not even make sure that everyone has the same chance of reaching those advancements. With Elderly being the most likely to have health insurance, due some part because of Medicare, I believe we should invest more into the babies and children of the United States. Having healthier children will yield healthier adults with substantially less medical problems in the future. With less medical costs in the future, the government would pay substantially less towards medically caring for its’ elderly. Health insurance should be a guarantee for all children. I want the government to think of health insurance as a long term investment.



Social Security

Honestly, I think Social Security is one of the best programs that the government has created. However, there main problem is that it is expected to run out by 2041. This is because of several factors. 1. More people were born during the baby boomer years and thus social security needs to be provided to more people. 2. People are living on average 12 years longer than people born during the beginning of the twentieth century, and 3. The amount of workers has declined. I believe the government needs to take some necessary actions in order to insure that other generations have access to social security, the way previous generations had. Obviously, one problem is that there are not enough people working. If more people were working this would not only help out the social security fund, but it will also help with the poverty threshold as well. We need to get more people to be productive in the community. I think we should start programs in social which gives a better understanding of particular government programs and how they affect us, individually, in the long run. Knowing is power. If people know the depth of social security, they would be more likely to contribute to society because they see it would benefit everyone. Not everyone really knows where their taxes are really going to and it is time that they learn.


Housing & Community Development
I think it is ironic how the government created public housing to help revitalize the neighborhood and to expand affordable housing and economic opportunities, but in actuality public housing has created the complete opposite of its original intentions, creating impoverished conditions for the majority of people who take it up. In addition, public housing has placed a high majority of low-income African Americans in a centralized location within the city. Though the government thought that this was a good idea at first, once whites began to move to the suburbs, taking their property taxes with them, this has left the community to be only funded by the federal government.

Race & Immigration
I did not realize that 12% of the United States population is made up of immigrants, while 37% of the Georgia population are immigrants.

In our class notes, the arguments against immigration are  is that immigrants drive down wages and takes jobs away from other low income Americans. However, I greatly disagree with these arguments. I do not think that immigrants drive down wages. I say this because I believe the American people should trust in the government to set a minimum wage which would be livable for all individuals working within the United States. Also, I do not think that immigrants take jobs away from other Americans because they work the jobs that the majority of Americans do not want to work in the first place. Immigrants come to the United States ready and desiring to work, any and everything. There work ethic is considerably higher than many other Americans that would be working the jobs that they are supposedly taking.

Welfare Reform and Poverty

My main question is: has the governments' welfare reform of 1996 truly helped the fight with poverty. Honestly,
I do not know. How can poverty increase and decrease at the same time. Meaning there are now less people who are on welfare than before the reform, but now the people who are on welfare, are even more impoverished than before. Single-mothers with children has risen in the poverty line, in addition to child poverty itself. The child poverty rate in the United States has been steadily rising.

So do I think the welfare reform helped poverty. NO by my standards, but YES by the governments' standards. The government is based off of numbers. They did the reform in order to "weed out" those who were not in a dire need of assistance. They wanted to help the extremely poor and not necessarily the moderately poor. With their reform, they were able to reduce the look of poverty through numbers, by setting different criteria, but did they really address the problem? I don't think so.

Wages and Poverty

Wages plays a major part in individuals flight with poverty. If an family is working full time, and the wages are still not enough to sustain life, then they have any choice but to be impoverished. I think our government has to start regulating what corporations are doing and realize that it is not fair nor productive for the success of its citizens if corporations continue to outsource or offer minimal wages. Even though it may not seem fair to the corporations, there has to be some rules when it comes to the success to the country as a whole, and that usually weighs more in the governments' eye than in the corporations point of view.

I believe outsourcing greatly dwindles the Unites States population to succeed to the best of its ability. Don't get me wrong, I think that it is good for corporations to look towards third world counrties for employees, if they are trying to help the flight of poor within that country, but I don't believe this is the corporations main objective when outsourcing. I believe they mainly do it for the profit, instead of helping the community of that country.

Also, I believe that wages need to be increased. The minimum wage is exactly what it is minimal. Based off of our budget project, our mother was working a $10.00 per hour job, full time and she still did not have the ability to "make ends meets". It is clear that the minimum wages needs to increase, but from my research $10.00 per hour, clearly would not do, let alone the national average of $7.25. It would have to be substantially more in order for a single mother with children to have a living, but I truly believe that the government or corporations are not willing to allow such a raise in the wage because they would lose in profit. In order to give in one area, something has to be taken away in another or at least that is what they would want you to think.

Poverty in America

Who you think is poor, both in the United States and globally?

Individuals who are poor do not have the ability to obtain their basic necessities, on a regular basis, that is needed in order to survive. Poor people live under the poverty level in which ever state or country that they live in. These individuals do not have the ability to obtain luxury items, let alone the bare means to survive. These items include but are not limited to food, clothing, healthcare and transportation.

UPDATE: 09.27.2010

Through the reading of our class material, I have realized that even though poverty rates run higher amongst minorities, whites are impoverished at a high percentage compared to blacks. Media is one reason for this misconception about poverty. Media plays a big part in our views and how we view others. News coverage skews the viewer to believe that the majority of impoverish people in the United States are black because there are a higher percentage on news broadcasting illustrating African Americans being impoverished compared to whites.

In addition, the books illustrates that our government measures poverty on a absolute basis compared to a relative measurement. This measurement has been the same since its creation of measuring poverty. This perpetuates poverty in a way because the government helps welfare cases on measurements that are no longer current. The standard of living has increased since the introduction of the absolute poverty measurement; however the measurement has remained constant throughout the years. This means the amount that is given to its percipients is only enough for their minimal existence and not enough for them to live a part of society.

Why you believe people are poor in the United States and Globally?

I believe people are poor because of a variety of variables. One reason individuals are poor, in the United States and other countries, is due to discrimination, discrimination that may have created with the formation of the state and no longer exists or discrimination that is still persistent. Slavery, racism and other dividing factors has created great disparities in the wealth within the United States, which the majority of wealth amongst whites and the vast majority of the underclass, not necessarily the poor, are minority. These initial discrepancies between race and class have created a system whose foundation is also embedded with these discrepancies. As the United States grew and evolved, success in industry, business, and other profitable ventures fell in the hands of the whites because blacks were viewed of subhuman. As time passed and slavery abolished, these profitable ventures have become major industries and brands in the U.S. whose creation came at a time of racism and/or discrimination.

Another reason people may be poor is because they accept the status quo. Many individuals in the poverty may not see a means to get out. They may not have an idea, a skill, talent, ability or the money to better their situation, so they just accept their environment as norm for them and continue to live as such.

UPDATE: 09.27.2010

An additional reason people are poor in the United States is because it passes from generation to generation. African American who are poor as a child have a high risk of being poor as adults. This is because the majority of impoverished African Americans grow up with less advantaged compared to whites. I believe that majority of blacks who are poor, are also the same ones that are facing extreme poverty compared to moderate or lesser degrees of poverty. The term ghettos can refer to this idea of extreme poverty. Those locked in extreme poverty are surrounded by dilapidating governmental institutions and programs, such as the school system. The money towards the development of school and curriculum, come from the poverty taxes being paid throughout the area. If the area is considerable poor, then the taxes going towards the school system will be minimal. I believe this is why gentrification has become popular in some areas, a way to bring up the poverty value, however when this occurs are the poverty view goes out, the people who could benefit from this the most are pushed put because of their lack of ability to sustain a living at the new value that is set.

UPDATE: 09.28.2010

The structure of our economy has caused an increase of poverty throughout the decades. Technological shifts and the industrial/de-industrial revolution have played a major part in this change. The industrial revolution bought mainly people into the urban sector in search for employment and other opportunities that the industry might bring. However, as advancements in technology have arisen, there has been a shift in our economy from manufacturing to servicing. This shift caused a great deal of job lost for those individuals who came from rural/ farming areas in look of work. Once these industries began to breakdown, the every people who came to the urban areas looking for a better life, were ultimately trapped in this area once they lost their employment in the manufacturing industry. Globalization has also played a part in continual poverty amongst the poor. Industries that have the ability to obtain workers at a cheaper cost do so in order to increase profit and productivity.

What you think is being done about poverty (e.g. current policies and programs in the United States and globally)?

I believe in the United States, governmental programs do not help defeat poverty. Food stamps, Section-8, Medicaid and other programs only allow for the majority of its applicants to sustain a living but not to get out of poverty. Also in other countries, the poor area only given handouts from non-profit organizations which only allow for the recipients to sustain life but not further it. In order for there to be an end to poverty in the United States and other countries, jobs need to be created and institutions need to change. There has to be a change in order for poverty to end. Everyone should have a fair advantage when it comes to seeking employment and schooling.

How well you think poverty is being addressed currently in the United States and globally?

Currently, the United States is making strides to alleviate the problem of poverty, such as trying to implement a universal healthcare, which allows everyone to have access to medical care. However, though this is helpful for the growth and well being of the population, there still needs to be a creation of jobs and people have to have an equal ability to obtain these jobs. Globally, I do not think the problem of poverty is being fought aggressively enough. Poverty cannot be fought aggressively enough because there are flaws in some countries governmental infrastructures. There is also a recession and many countries do not have the means to try to combat the problem.

What you personally think should be done about poverty in the United States and globally (e.g. policies, programs you would suggest)?

The structure of a society needs to change in order to combat poverty. Again, jobs need to be created to allow impoverished people to make a living and take care of themselves. Discrimination needs to end in order to allow people to be treated equally in all circumstances, so they can have the same advantages as others.