How do we rid America of poverty when there are some people who do not want to work for a living?
461165
No.  Poverty will not ever go away completely.
581289
Wow, this is such a great question! Really.  For me, the way to reduce poverty in the US (and anywhere in the world) is to GET PEOPLE EDUCATED.  Poverty is such a complex issue and it is a difficult challenge to address, but if you get people educated, the quality of lives around the world will change.  I mean, by getting people educated, you help them get to schools, get good jobs, take better care of themselves, prevent disease, etc.  It's so cool, really.\n\nThere are statistics that support how education can help reduce poverty.  I think some of them can be found on www.campaignforeducationusa.org --  Maybe when writing your paper, you can present the case for education being a good way to fight poverty, and then support that by showing all the ways that educating someone can actually help him/her improve the quality of his/her life.  Good luck.
41838
Many of the people that are homeless choose not to work and just give up on life.  Maybe because of drugs or alcohol.  I know this first hand because my brother in law is homeless.  He comes and stays with family for a while and then CHOOSES to go back out on the streets. I just dont get it.  He doesnt want to work because he owes alot in child support and says they will take more than half of his money.  He said there are many homeless like him. They are choosing to be that way.  He gets free food from food kitchens and begging.  He stays at shelters when its cold.  He gets free medical because our medical system will not refuse service to anyone. I think sometimes we are enabling him. Im not saying all are but many. I do realize there are many that are homeless that may not have any control over their cicurmstances.
761333
If the government would stop the handouts, people would stop renting housing to them, and stop hiring them to do American jobs they wouldn't stay. Most of them are here looking for a free ride and ignoring our laws.
1040115
You choose your job and career.  With that, in America slavery does not exist.  Furthermore, spare me the liberal babel that people are forced into jobs because of their upbringing.  Everyone in this country has the ability to utilize the assets that society grants us to better themselves so that they enable themselves to move up the economic ladder.
930844
They pay low wages 'cause they hate for anyone but themselves to have a good standard of living.  THey want to create a banana republic in the US where a tiny minority of rich control the multitudes of poor with union-busting, religious control & a culture that says the poor deserve low pay 'cause they're labelled as "lazy" by their rich overlords.
432314
Poverty is the main problem. What follows is lack of education, utilities, medical care, food and all the other things we take for granted. It also opens the company up to dictators who, with a little money and power, can control the weakened population and keep them surpressed.\n\nThe Asian countries are great examples but Africa, Russia , Mexicon and Cuba also are models of what can happen when there are long histories of poverty and surpression. We have so much to protect and be thankful for in America.
119064
The Brookings Institute did a great study called Work and Marriage: The Way to End Poverty and Welfare by Ron Haskins and Isabel V. Sawhill. September 2003.  Some of the ideas they had were really great.  They said that by increasing the numbers of hours that people living under the poverty line worked to 30 hours the poverty level is lowered from 13% to 7.5%.  This plan did allow for people living under the poverty line to pursue higher education instead of work, which lowered poverty 1.9%. They also said by giving incentives for people living under the poverty line to marry, that decreased the percent of people living in poverty another 3.5%.  Lastly, limiting the benefits to 2 children lowered the poverty level another 1.7%.  All four of these things together lowered poverty 9.3% from 13% to 3.7%.  Where doubling welfare benefits only lowered poverty by 1.1%.  The study also listed benefit to these programs.  For example, the money spent on these programs would be recouped in tax dollars earned from the new taxable income that is created by the 30 hours of work that people formerly living under the poverty would be performing.  They also cited an increase in public approval that tax payer would have for paying for programs that encourage work instead of discouraging it, as the current system does.  The article was very interesting and has some very good ideas.  Although people who prefer living off government handouts may not like it, a hand-up or a helping hand is always better then a handout.  I am a single mother who has used various government assistance (such as daycare assistance, Pell Grants, Medicaid, and WICK) to earn a bachelors degree and move my son and I out from under the poverty line.  The money that tax payers and the government spent helping me is definitely paying off, as now I am a hard working, taxpaying citizen. Unfortunately, I believe I am in the minority.
140497
Your question is both timely and poignant.  There are still people who believe that poverty can be eradicated simply by providing people with more social service benefits, and there are those who still believe that higher minimum wages (living wages) will solve these problems.  Poverty and despair are the main underlying causes of crime, and to address them, society must adequately address illiteracy and must make advanced education and training available to a larger number of its citizens.  We can no longer afford to have a college education be as expensive as many people could afford to pay for shelter.  We can no longer afford to have the only good elementary and secondary schools in many communities be the expensive and highly selective private ones that are beyond the reach of the people who live in the neighborhoods in which these schools lie.  In a nutshell, our educational system is in complete disarray from top to bottom.  Teachers are grossly underpaid, but the standards are so low to enter that otherwise noble profession that the field attracts way too many people who are not qualified to work anywhere else.  If our teachers were paid commensurate with the experience, skill, expertise, and success ratio they each individually bring to the table, and those who did not measure up to the much higher standard we must adopt were fired for cause (or retrained and then reemployed), our students would learn much more of what they need to learn.  Illiteracy would improve because teaching would improve.  Crime would improve because literacy would make more people gainfully employable and poverty would have a significantly reduced effect on our society.
361701
alot of AMERICANS could do those jobs if paid a resonable wage (i.e. not 4.50 an hour)\n\nThere are a lot of unemployed American people looking for a job, but not at slave wages
300697
I don't think it can. Poverty can be reduced, but in order to cure poverty, everyone would have to put in the effort and wealth and goods would have to be distributed more equally, which isn't going to happen. In our capitalistic society, money is power and people don't want to give that up. Also, our values and where we put money is so jaded ( police officers, fire fighters, and teachers make very little, while athletes make millions), that it would take a menal overhaul and societal change before we can ever come close to curing poverty
319789
Well - gosh - I see so many "Americans" lining up to clean, cook and do yard work.  These so called jobs being taken away from Americans (ha,ha) are given to immigrants bcuz they will do them for next to nothing in pay and if YOU were to do any of these jobs you would want $50 an hour with benefits and vacations and sick time and a say in what you do and a title for your job and pay raises etc, etc. You get the drift ???????
342651
NO. I think that would be impossible. We cannot flourish if people are not working. Outsourcing causes Americans to loose jobs. Think of the problem on an individual level, if as an individual you cannot take care of yourself and have to depend on others what would happen? Just like individuals our country needs to be self sufficient.
693439
If the country was being run like it should be, we shouldn't have anyone here in the US living in poverty.  \n\nSadly even the minimum wage is a "poverty wage".  You can work 40 hours a week and work all 52 weeks a year, and you would still be considered living in "poverty".\n\nSo to answer your question:  Yes, the government is wasting our tax dollars and making impractical decisions.\n\nIf they were running the country properly, we wouldn't have to have a need for welfare, or be hated by more people than ever from other countries (war issue).
406120
some people who live in poverty choose not to do anything about it...like get a job or an education. and some is just laziness
1043758
To all those right-wingers who suggest that welfare does things to people and that they don't bother to get out of poverty, I would like to inform you that yes, it does happen, but please don't generalize and suggest that a great majority of them do so.  I have a college degree and my family had to use welfare for a short time, because I was unable to find a job.  It helped us get by and be able to put some food on the table.  However, I was in a better position, in the fact that I actually do have a degree.  Many people on welfare don't and can't get anything more than a $8 an hour job.  If you think you can support 2 children on $8 an hour, I suggest you go try it.  I've known several people that have to work 2-3 jobs just in order to pay their bills.  It doesn't mean they're not "trying" to get out of poverty.  It's that they can't.  It's a vicious cycle.  To suggest that they're not "trying" to get out of poverty is extremely selfish and insensitive.  Sure, there are people that take advantage of the system, and the government should do a better job of punishing those that do.  But, don't blast the entire system just because of a few bad apples.  Throw out the bad apples.
568613
why do you refer to poor americans as bottom feeders? are you a racist or just someone who hates all americans? and do you believe that poor americans deserve less of a chance at a better life because they are american. why aren't you calling for reform within the countries that these illegal immigrants come from. everyone demands that america must change and no one calls for change from any other country. and i could care less where they are from. if they want to come to america then do it the legal way.