Economics and Causes of Poverty

What happens to be more strongly associated with absolute poverty- family structure, income inequality or economic growth? Why do you think this is the case? Well the Economic Glossary defines absolute poverty as "The amount of income a person or family needs to purchase an absolute amount of the basic necessities of life. These basic necessities are identified in terms of calories of food, BTUs of energy, square feet of living space, etc." So based off of this definition and information from the book I'd have to say economic growth. 

What appears to be more strongly associated with relative poverty? Why?  Income inequality appears to be more strongly associated with relative poverty because even though living standards and real incomes have grown, the gains in income and wealth are being unevenly distributed.

What effect did family structure have on poverty? Was its effect on poverty stronger or weaker than economic growth and income inequality?  As stated in the book, family structure had a larger negative effect on blacks however from 1990-1999 all ties with family structure and poverty disappeared.

What did you say were the causes of poverty in your initial Perspectives Paper? Are any of those causes listed in the previous chart? I put that some people were born into poverty and others make themselves poor. I've heard a lot of testimonies of people who were once in good economic standing but put themselves into poverty. A few of the ones I didn't even really consider that were listed on the chart were language barriers or culture shock.

I thought the poverty simulations were great. Like one of the guys said it's a way to educate people the struggles of families. When you're in someone else's shoes rather than just hearing about it, you get a completely different outlook of the issue. While watching the clips I kept thinking about how chaotic everything looked, from the people to the noises. People in poverty are underestimated, they go through things like that everyday-sometimes having to stand in lines for hours or the whole day and get absolutely nothing accomplished. I feel bad for them because it's almost like a behind the scenes thing. We only hear and see and know about the homeless people walking around campus or the single mom with 3 kids or the 13 year old who robbed a corner store when there are actually people who are in poverty, that really are trying to have better lives for themselves and their families.

Poverty in A Global Context

After going through the powerpoint and the other folders in this session, I realized how difficult poverty is to understand. Like honestly, when you're talking about more than half of 6 billion people being in poverty it seems so unrealistic. It was really hard for me to grasp poverty in a global context. I felt like while I was going through each slide and going through the folders, everything just seemed like a merry go round. Like it'd go from A to B to C back to A again. It makes me really wonder if there really IS a way to stop poverty  or if it's just an issue that has possible solutions however aren't entirely probable. What I most enjoyed was the article from Time Magazine. I loved how it pretty much touched upon poverty globally and in the U.S. Also in the article it gives us the degrees of poverty. I felt like this is important to understand because people who are in extreme poverty are struggling more than just financially- their drinking water is unsanitary, they're chronically hungry, they're unable to get healthcare, can't afford education and maybe even a stable roof over their heads. Time Magazine put this as "the poverty that kills".
The poverty that kills....I literally had to stop while reading the article and just think about that. My mind refused to grasp that this kind of poverty exists in the world. While this kind of poverty only exists now in developing countries, it's still depressing to know that this type of poverty has that much power to take millions of lives away each year.

Do Neighborhoods Matter?

I completely understand why this question would be raised in society, however after x amount of years have passed I believe that it's safe to say that neighborhoods do matter. When you're not seeing any type of progress from a group of people who live in a low income neighborhood in comparison to a groups of people who live in middle income or high income neighborhood, they do matter. I know that many of you have probably heard the quote "You're a product of your environment." A person's neighborhood is their environment. If they're living in low income housing, it's probably likely that they're surrounded by other low income institutions (ex. schools, restaurants, etc.) When I say "low income institutions", I mean that these places they're surrounded by are lacking something that higher income places have; they're unkept, unclean and just not really nice looking places. I'm not saying that a person's neighborhood is the absolute, number 1 reason why a person is the way they are, however it is a contributing factor to poverty. After really thinking about this question it really doesn't surprise me that for over a quarter of a century, there is still no answer. What do I personally think should be done about poverty? I think that people should stop looking at poverty as whole and take it piece by piece-little by little. We need to start trying to fix the contributing factors, like neighborhoods and their surrounding environments to alleviate the depression that they're surrounded by.

Down and Out in America

After watching the film Down and Out in America, my outlook on who I think is poor and why I believe people are poor have altered.  Firstly, you get a whole new outlook on the typical "poor" person. ANYBODY CAN BECOME POOR. Within the first few minutes of the film, one of the people sharing their "poverty testimony" talks about how she never thought she'd be poor and how it could happen to anybody at anytime. This really stuck out to me. While reading several of my peers first blog posting, some people said that being at Georgia State, the poor people were the homeless people! To me, the homeless people are of a completely different class level; they're below poor. I say this because most homeless people have nothing, they don't have jobs or an income and most likely don't qualify for any type of government aid (food stamps, medicaid, etc.) Homeless people are people that are struggling with life alone. They have no voice in society. I honestly feel like poor people are people that just struggle financially. In the film, farmers are introduced as entering "poverty". Farmers! Who would've thought right? After watching this film and reading my peer's blogs and even thinking of my own opinions on poverty, it shows how misinformed we are about this issue. How well do I think poverty is being addressed currently in the United States and globally? Horribly, the more misinformed we are about this issue, the worse it will continue to get. The more the problem will expand and the more people will fall under this category.

The Gap between the Rich & the Poor

Were you aware of the growing gap between the rich and the poor?
Yes, I feel like it's so much more evident now more than ever. The rich continue to maintain their budget while the poor are, well, just getting even more poor. It's only logical to think that gap is going to grow because neither class wants to be associated with each other. I think the recession widens the gap even further. In an article posted on the NYNewsdaily last October, the associated press discusses the impact of the recession specifically on the middle-income and poor families. The wealthiest percent of Americans earned 11.4 times made by those roughly living near or below the poverty line in 2008  and poverty has jumped to 13.2 percent, an 11 year high. This obviously shows, in numbers, the growing gap because poverty levels have only been increasing and I think it's only going to get worse.
While I was aware of the growing gap between the rich and the poor in America, I wasn't really aware of the world income inequality and the growing gap between the rich and the poor throughout nations. It's a tough concept to wrap my mind around. America is big enough as it is and i don't even think about trying to resolve the poverty here, let alone other nations. I think that's the problem though; people don't want to face another person's reality so how can the issue of poverty ever advance?


Why do you think the U.S. has some of the highest poverty rates among industrialized countries? 
I'd assume that the U.S. has some of the highest poverty rates among industrialized countries for a number of reasons, obviously. Our country has been advancing so fast over the years that it doesn't have time to stop and do something "life-changing" for the people in poverty, let alone even think about all the people who are living in poverty. I also think because of our recent issues with our economy, the recession definitely played a part in increasing the poverty rates.

Personal Perspectives

• Who you think is poor, both in the United States and globally.  My definition of who I thought was poor would be completely irrelevant because I honestly don't know. Is the poor the homeless people of downtown atlanta? Or the families living in slums in third world countries? I think to know and define poor, you'd have to be poor. I believe a less "shallow" definition of poor is just a person or a family that struggles to support themselves. I think a poor person doesn't have extra money to buy just whatever they want, their income goes strictly to necessities (i.e. bills, food, rent.)
• Why you believe people are poor in the United States & globally? People are poor for several different reasons. Every poor person has their own reason or maybe not, who knows. Some people are born into poverty and others are in good economic standing but somehow put themselves into poverty. I believe that people are poor because they have no hope and other people have no hope for them. I believe being poor has a lot to do with lack of motivation; poor people are not motivated and have nobody to motivate them. Am I saying that other people should be responsible for the poor and their motivation? Absolutely not. Could poverty lessen if there were people out there just giving them that push or extra bit of hope? Maybe, just maybe. 
• What you think is being done about poverty? I mean we do have the Welfare Program here and I've heard of several organizations that donate money globally however I don't think that helps the root cause, it just alleviates some of the suffering. So with that being said, not much is being done about poverty at all. It's overlooked and is just not that important to the government or even people. It's sad to think about it, actually, because people who are in poverty are human beings. They are people just like me and you and your best friend or your mom.
• How well you think poverty is addressed currently in the United States and globablly. I honestly think that a lot of people have stopped caring about poverty, so it's never really addressed as it should be. There are "bigger issues at hand", the government would say; a.k.a. they don't care about it. Also considering that the countries that recieve aid, in most cases, have a corrupt government system that pocket what is being contributed and severely limits who can do what, where. It's not often really
• What you personally think should be done about poverty in United States and globally. I think that entire global community would have to change. Seriously, it'd take a lot. It'd take hearts to create this movement to care about other people who are less fortunate than them. Maybe more PSA's could be broadcasted about poverty or community fundraisers or something. Personally, I don't know what should be done; but I do know that it'd take a lot.