Poverty and Progress
Introduction
Today we are living in a world that has become a global village but it is divided. This is the era of technology and science and the world has made significant advances in every field. It is also a place where millions of people and children die because of poverty and hunger. These poor people have no access to medicines. We are living in a world where information and knowledge have made significant progresses but still millions of children are deprived of basic education at school. The world is a place of hope and promise but it is also a place of poverty, despair and grief. This research is based on the topic of ‘Poverty’ as it is a detailed topic. This research will cover the understanding of poverty, its causes and the remedial measures to cease poverty. The paper is divided into three major categories as described in the paper by Henry George. The first is finding the causes of poverty from the perspective of culture and economy. The second portion is about the measurement and analysis of poverty. The third is to find the measures to annihilate and eliminate poverty with the help of scholarly views and articles accompanied with the feasibility studies in the perspective of law and human progress.
Poverty and its Causes in the perspective of Culture and Economy
Poverty basically means that the basic need of shelter, food and clothing is not met. Poverty can be at an individual, community and at global level. Poverty is one of the biggest concern in the society and also globally. According to the article by Henry George, ‘Poverty is an ongoing and a rising crisis and if remedial measures are not taken it will become a major epidemic’. (George, 2012) The information found in the US data base of Carolina, the poverty rate was between 17% and 23% in 2010 (Ehrenreich, Hochschild & Holt, 2012). According to Ehrenreich in her book ‘Nickel and Dimed’, she has described the present scenario of the poor working class and the life of poor in America (Ehrenreich, Hochschild & Holt, 2012). The hypothetical situation covered in the book is that a 21 year old pregnant woman who is a student also, had to face a lot of problem in raising her family. Her spouse is unemployed and disabled. Ehrenreich showed that the working wages are 9$ an hour for students and without any benefits. In Nickel and Dimed, Ehrenreich discussed various factors that contribute significantly to poverty (Ehrenreich, Hochschild & Holt, 2012). She has described that medical problems, unemployment and psychological sicknesses leads to poverty (Ehrenreich, Hochschild & Holt, 2012).
According to the article by NPR, ‘American Harsh reality and dream’, the major cause of poverty is slavery of the black people. During the era of slavery in America, the American dream was not possible for the black people as they were slaves. Women were not allowed to own property or vote (George, 2012). The high income white people are the ones who are optimistic of the American dream. On the other hand, the lower income black people are skeptical towards the American dream. It is a harsh reality that this dream for the Americans is only for the rich and not the poor and working class (NPR.org, 2012). Other main cause of unemployment is unemployment. As seen in the example of Nickel and Dimed that income disparity leads to poverty at a mass level (Ehrenreich, Hochschild & Holt, 2012).
Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
Poverty measurement is an important economic tool used by the economists and policy makers which measures the living conditions of poor people. The analysis of poverty deals with both the economic and political agenda. One is the identification of people who are poor and are target for the appropriate intervention, another reason is to evaluate and monitor the policy and projects interventions linked to the poor. It also predicts the effects and then designs the programs and policies to support the poor people. The third is the effectiveness of the institutions and their evaluations whose aims are to help the poor (NPR.org, 2012). The government can only help the poor and reduce poverty unless they have robust information on the figures of poverty. Poverty can be caused by two major factors. One is the entrenched and other is the acute factor. Diseases, natural disasters and war are acute factors. The lack of education, over population and corruption is the entrenched factor (George, 2012).
Solution to annihilate poverty
Education and investing in the educational infrastructures to promote education is the most efficient way to overcome poverty. It is not doubt that it is a vital initiative to tackle the epidemic of poverty. The correlation can be seen that increasing education and health the economy seems to recover as the poverty is reduced (NPR.org, 2012). However, in order to overcome poverty on a mass scale measuring and comparing the impact education has on poverty is not easy. Other factors that contribute to the reduction in poverty is raising the living standard of the people and strengthening the implication of each individual. The third factor is to reduce the gap between the poor and the rich i.e. equality of income. When each individual of the community receives a fair share of the total income then there will be no income disparity. Thus, poverty can drastically be controlled and reduced (George, 2012). Thus, we can say that income inequality is the main hurdle that needs to be overcome to eliminate poverty. The growth in economy and GDP is the main initiative to control the poverty and foster development.
Conclusion
To sum up, it can be said that Poverty is the major hurdle in the progress of any country. War is the worst outcome that inevitably leads to poverty as the government spends huge amounts in raisin military instead of helping the poor (George, 2012). The example can be seen when Japan and Germany faced poverty in the aftermath of World War II. They had both economic and cultural issues but they recovered from this quickly by suitable government policies and remedial measures.
Work Cited
Ehrenreich, B., Hochschild, A., & Holt, H. (2012). Nickel and dimed.
George,H. (2014). Progress and poverty : why there are recessions and poverty amid plenty – and what to do about it! (Book, 2006) [WorldCat.org]. Retrieved 26 November 2014, from http://www.worldcat.org/title/progress-and-poverty-why-there-are-recessions-and-poverty-amid-plenty-and-what-to-do-about-it/oclc/298561591
NPR.org,. (2012). American Dream Faces Harsh New Reality. Retrieved 26 November 2014, from http://www.npr.org/2012/05/29/153513153/american-dream-faces-harsh-new-reality
