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Why is there so much poverty in the United States? Essays

Decent Essays

The question “Why is there so much poverty in the United States?” has such a broad spectrum of issues. There is no simple cure or single cause of poverty. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, “the 2011 Poverty Guidelines are $10,890 for a single member household and $22,350 for a family of four” (par 13). In addition, “families’ incomes that fall below the threshold given, means that every individual in the household are considered to be in poverty” (par 13). Poverty is too complex an issue to be the result of just one problem, but we can narrow down the subject, to show the effects of how the lack of education can diminish our countries resources and how that has a ripple effect on future …show more content…

Dropouts routinely receive no medical or health insurance from these low paying; part-time employment and these jobs usually have no benefits, such as retirement plans, paid vacations, and sick leave days. For the most part these are rewards for full-time employees. Another effect of not having an education is the increasing crime rates. Gangs most prevalent in large cities begin recruiting these young dropouts. For many of these kids, they are living in single parent households and the intercity gang populations introduce them to drugs, alcohol, and crime. Unfortunately, many of these high school dropouts start their criminal careers at a young age. Beginning with minor charges of petty theft and eventually escalating to crimes much more serious. “Dropouts are three and half times more likely to be arrested than high school graduates and more than 8 times as likely to be incarcerated says, “School or the Streets: Crime and America’s Dropout Crisis,” a report from Fight Crime: Invest in Kids” (par 1). In conjunction with the higher crime rates, we also see overcrowded penal systems filled with gang members serving sentences for a variety of crimes. Under these conditions, many states have prisoners awaiting their punishments on death row. According to an article INSIDE

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