Why do you think poverty is increasing in the United States?
971284
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4198668.stm\nhttp://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0831/p02s01-usec.html\nhttp://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/Business/html/20050830T210000-0500_87274_OBS_US_POVERTY_RATE_RISES_FOURTH_CONSECUTIVE_YEAR_TO______.asp\n\n articles detailing unbiased fact that US poverty rate is on the rise \n\nI think there is no simple answer. Briefly, I would say it has many causes; among them:\n\n-poor quality of education in low-income areas\n-rising out-of-pocket health costs (especially a factor for the rise in poverty among the elderly)\n-wages not keeping up with cost of living increases\n-misinformation\n-changing social structures\n-shift away from community oriented programs and activities towards individual ownership\n-rising cost of oil products\n-demand for mass-produced, cheap goods, and decline in skilled trade\n-decreasing college affordability\n-trend away from small business and family farm promotion\n-the social issues surrounding poverty- drugs, violence, poor health, etc. \n\n\nIn order to get themselves OUT of poverty, people need a leg up. I grew up in poverty, but luckily had a large family willing to provide moral support (they could not afford to help me financially). I am still struggling financially, and it will be at least 5 years before I can be not living one paycheck away from bankruptcy. It is harder than people realize to start with nothing, and "make it". Those who believe poverty is a symptom of laziness have never tried to make ends meet, raise a family, or work through school, on minimum wage jobs with no external support.
459286
Capitalism. America will either move towards Socialism or die under the weight of the insane amount of materialism we've created. Rich people want more and more and don't want to share, poor people want what the rich people have, and the middle class are only slaves to materialism. It's been proven the divide between upper and lower classes is quickly increasing. I can walk down any street in my city and see the dirt poor wiping the asses of the wealthy, it's sickening. It can't last much longer though. Just a matter of time before it crumbles.
374626
It's poverty. Like it or not people need money to live. When they don't have enough money, they start to think how they can survive. When they feel desperate, they're doing criminals..
631993
I don't think the United States has become a bunch of loosers. I just believe that our politicians have been too busy wiggling around the problem for too long, and now it has caught up with them and they don't know what to. One thing for sure, they won't turn to the citizens for answers. They will continue to wriggle around until the problem is completely uncontrolable, then the United States will no longer exist as a soverign nation, and it will become the slum of the world. Crime and drugs will become the predominant economy. Morals will deteriorate, boys will become girls, girls will become power mongers. wars will breakout between homo and heterosexuals, babies will be harvested from the wombs of their mothers and be ground up for cattle feed, astronauts will hijack space shuttles in futile attempts to escape their beloved homelands, lunatics will rule over malls and shopping centers, the homeless will reside in former governer digs and mott-the-hoople will adorn the dollar bill.
1185814
There are poor people everywhere, regardless of nationality.  In West Germany, 3.7% of the population receives welfare, and in East Germany, 2.7% does.  Compare this to the USA where (as of the last count in 2000) was only 2.4%.  Also, according to the BBC, since the recent economic recession in Japan, poverty has risen considerably.  The unemployment rate in Japan was at 4.3% as of 2005, but the actual poverty rate was unavailable on every site I checked.
373804
Our culture has become one of consumption and materialism.  Americans feel entitled to material wealth, and we value money above almost everything else, although few would admit it!  It's disgusting, really, when you look at the gap between rich and poor in this country.
820828
Because in the long run it will be a net loss to the working class.  Prices will go up way out of proportion to the increase to the ones that are putatively being helped.  Even the McDonald's in my area is already paying well above minimum just to get people to work there.  So why legislate something that is automatically being adjusted by the laws of supply and demand.\n\nThe real problem is the number of people trying to live outside their means.  Having more children than they can afford.  Deciding to buy a house that they can barely afford then not being able to make the payments when their adjustable rate mortgage rate goes up.  Most of the real problems with the American economy isn't on the government side, it's on the side of poor choices made by individuals.
316473
This is a sad observation mostly about poorer Americans (1), a distinction in the gap between the poor and the wealthy in the United States.  The poorer individuals in America have a larger tendency towards obesity, and wealth is very much correlated to obesity, as shown in this study (2).  Speaking anecdotally, you see alot of overweight individuals in urban areas and in immigrant neighborhoods, which are generally less well off than white suburban neighborhoods (3).\n\nThis is actually very odd, in less developed nations you see the reverse: the poor are starving and thin, and the rich are obese.  Often obesity is a sign of wealth and status in cultures where food is scarce (1).\n\nWhy is it that in the US, the wealthier you are, the less likely you are to be overweight?  From what I have seen, wealthier individuals have muchy better diets.  They do not eat cheap junk food like McDonalds or frozen burritos.  They also have the money to join health clubs, go to spas, and basically they can afford to lead healthier lives.
226399
People's personal blights, ie poverty or education, or not the responsibility of goverment. It is that person's choice where they are in life. In modern american society it seems that everyone wants to blame someone for the way they ended up, or make an excuse for why someone else is doing better than them. \n\nIt is a fact that some people will do nothing more than what is ABSOLUTELY nessacary for survival on that particular day. Some people will do more, and some will do everything they can to get better off than others. \n\nTo directly answer the poverty % quest... It all comes down to what the person doing the survey wants the number to be. A person living in per-say Montana with a small farm grwing there own food not really having a need for money is in poverty. But if you ask them they may say they are doing fine as all of their needs are met. A multi-millionaire that has no job (doesn't need it duh) and has no investment income (poor economic move) is considered in poverty by IRS standards. So it all comes down to what poverty number do you want to have?\n\nOn a side note, I fix up houses as a business. With the way the tax code is structured I can write off almost all of my income to business expenses. IRS paper work I made $9300 last year for a family of 3 (sole income earner). My actually net from the business for the year was $102,000+(not rubbing it in). I have been contacted multi times for Gov't assistance because we are POOR. LOL
396005
Developing nations are creating their own problems. The US gives them more aid than most of them do for themselves.
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.
557494
you are getting some great answers here. yes did know that and though the richer people will get more money in their pockets the average person will get a greater percantage of it. facts are alot harder to argue  againtist.
461165
No.  Poverty will not ever go away completely.
391909
The reason for poverty in America is the politics's of greed, or Repuglicans in general. I have mine and I want to make more therefore I do not want to pay taxes and to hell with anybody else. Being poor is no more a choice then homosexuality. It is thrust on 10% of the population by another 10% of the population the very rich. I wonder why of for what reason that a person needs every cent of their billion dollars and there are many billionaires here. There is also a thing with corporate greed. Move the good paying jobs with health benefits overseas to a place where people work for pennies. But do you see the price come down on anything because of it. The answer is a big NO. Socialized medicine is long overdue here it is needed by all, not just an elite few. Every one in the United States should have a birthright to three things food, shelter and health care.
219675
First of all, what info are u getting making u believe the U.S. is faling behind on everything?  Sure we're falling in some categories but at the same time we're leading is many others.  This quesiton is too general.  Be more specific.
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.
736389
I'm in the U.S but I've said the same thing for years! poor children being born to idiots, raised as idiots, to become adult idiots that working class people some how end up taking care of. cheers\n\n\nArcane you make a very good point