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Mechelle To Professor KT Magnusson Microeconomics 2010 08 December 2013 Poverty in America Has America won the war against poverty? In Peter Edelmans article Poverty in America: Why Cant We End It? Edelman quoted Ronald Reagan who famously said, We fought a war on poverty and poverty won. I dont believe this question to have a definite answer. The process to ending poverty will take centuries to correct, which we will probably never be able to correct. We cannot determine the hardships that may be ahead of us, but we are able to learn from our mistakes in the past to prevent the same outcome from happening. America has done a lot that works to help the 39.8 million Americans living in poverty such as; Social Insurance Programs and Public Assistant Programs (McConnell, pg 421-424). Social insurance programs partially replace earnings that have been lost due to retirement, disability, or temporary unemployment; they also provide health insurance for the elderly (McConnell, pg 421). Social Security, Unemployment Compensation, and Medicare are the three main programs included in the Social Insurance Programs to protect the people that have either become disabled, retired, or are temporarily unemployed (McConnell, pg 421). These programs are financed primarily out of Federal payroll taxes (McConnell, pg 421). In these programs the entire population shares the risk of an individuals losing income because of retirement, unemployment, disability, or illness (McConnell, pg 422).

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Public assistance programs (welfare) provide benefits to people who are unable to earn income because of permanent disabling conditions or who have no or very low income and also have dependent children. These programs are financed out of general tax revenues and are regarded as public charity (McConnell, pg 423). The programs included in the public assistance program are Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicaid, and Earned-Income Tax Credit (EITC) (McConnell, pg 423). With the assistances of the Social Insurance Program and the Public Assistance Program we have successfully assisted about 40 million Americans with their struggles dealing with poverty. We have not accomplished our goal as a community to close the gap on poverty but without these kinds of assistances we would have at least double the about of people living in poverty according to Peter Edelman in his article Poverty in America: Why Cant We End It? Peter Edelman believes there are four reasons why we have not accomplished more with the gap between poverty: An astonishing number of people work at low-wage jobs. Plus, many more households are headed now by a single parent, making it difficult for them to earn a living income from the jobs that are typically available. The near disappearance of cash assistance for low-income mothers and children i.e., welfare in much of the country plays a contributing role, too. And persistent issues of race and gender mean higher poverty among minorities and families headed by single mothers (paragraph 4). I completely agree with Peter Edelman on his statement for the lack of accomplishment on the issue involving poverty.

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I believe one of the main problems we have with poverty is growth. For us to lower the poverty level the 1 percent of Americans at the top must be willing to sacrifice more than they have been. The growth of our economy is only growing in the top 1 percent while the other 99 percent are suffering. The top 1 percent may not think it is worth the sacrifice to help the remaining 99 percent of the population, whatever happened to majority rules? The majority of the population is struggling and we can help alleviate some of the struggle by taking from the 1 percent to improve the lives of the other 99 percent of the population. We dont necessarily have to take from them but we must decline the growth of their salaries/wages (Edelman, paragraph 7). Most of the people living in poverty cannot support their families with the wages they are being paid. The Federal Minimum Wage for America is far below daily living expenses. For an independent adult with no dependants, he/she still would not be able to live off the salary he/she made as a full-time employee. So how will families support their dependants on that? The cost of living has risen faster than the federal minimum wage which makes it tough on Americans living in poverty to provide for their families. With the cost of living increasing faster than the federal minimum wage, we rely on the assistance programs to make up for the remainder. Instead of using the resources allocated towards assisting people in poverty, we should use it towards benefiting their well being through education. One of the reasons why so many Americans live in poverty and work low-wage jobs is because they do not have any form of education to advance themselves. Yes, you can become a self-proclaimed millionaire and be very successful without an education but it does not work for everyone. Education can be very beneficial and will give you the opportunity to increase your wage/salary. Education can assist you in creating a better future for yourself and your family.

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From my microeconomics class I have learned that education is a key to succeeding. You should be informed about the options you have to increase the quality of life you live. Although we have not closed the gap on poverty we have succeed with lowering the poverty level through many different assistance programs. Through the assistance programs we have created a better life for about 40 million Americans living in poverty. Although there are many issues we need to work on, I believe the lack of growth in the 99 percent is caused by the lack of education. In my opinion education would have to be the biggest flaw we Americans have today.

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Works Cited Edelman, Peter. "Poverty in America: Why Cant We End It?." The New York Times 28 July 2012, sec. The Opinion Pages: 2. http://www.nytimes.com. Web. 2 Dec. 2013. McConnell, Campbell R., Stanley L. Brue, and Sean Masaki Flynn. Microeconomics: principles, problems, and policies. 19th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2012. Print.