The Issue of Poverty in America

By Maria Limandri

People might think that poverty is the last thing to occur in the United States of America -the land of opportunity, where people come fulfill their hopes and dreams. But it is a shame, should the government of America admit that they too can experience poverty? Let them allow having an excuse that nothing is perfect. Everything is possible. However, we all know that we can achieve the 0 poverty in our country, if everyone will work at it out together. How the poverty is being measured in the United States of America? The United States Department of Health and Human Services says that there are two slightly different versions of the federal poverty measure. One is the poverty threshold which is used mainly in Census Bureau for statistical purposes, and the other one is the poverty guidelines which are basically for administrative purposes. But the US government does not really understand that the only thing this policy of measurement can do is give us knowledge about figures and recoded data of how many could pass yearly in the poverty line according to the standards that they have set. And that is just it they have set these standards and we have no idea what they are based on. They never realize that the poverty measurement has nothing to do with poverty itself and how to totally demolish the poverty problem in the United States of America - the land of opportunity.
As a citizen, all I can say is that since we are in the land of opportunity and this is where people come to make a better life for themselves and their families we should not have such a high rate of poverty. We are supposed to be one of the richest countries in the world and we have such a poverty rate and we cannot seem to correct it is very discouraging. If we all worked together and created a safety net for this problem I believe this problem could be fixed. Yes, it will take some time and effort, but we are Americans and we pull together in times of need and we make things happen and we can fix such a serious issue that affects us all socially.