http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/11/us/11poverty.html
Using your sociological imagination, what is contributing to this increase in the poverty rate? What impacts might this have on individuals and families who are below, near, or at the poverty line? How might this change impact other areas of our society?
I know that we kind of covered this topic through college tuition on Thursday's lecture, but I think that the increase in the poverty rate is due to the declining economy. Because the economy is low, the unemployment rates are incredibly high. But for the individuals and families who are already below, near, or at the poverty line, it poses a bigger problem because many people are going back to school to get their degrees, but if you can't afford to go back to school in the first place, the people who do have degrees are going to take their jobs. I know that in my hometown of Grants Pass, businesses and even our hospital are having a great impact because people are less willing to spend money in stores (or don't have enough to spend) and be able to afford rising healthcare plans.
ReplyDeleteThe increase in poverty rate is due to the rise in unemployment. Our unemployment problem is due to the fact that we are in a recession. Families and individuals near, at, or below the poverty line will continue to fall. Those whom are close will most likely go below if they lose their job. By having people below the poverty line It raises the cost of taxes for those whom are not. We have to help fund the government’s healthcare through paying higher taxes. Those who aren’t near, at, or below the poverty line have most likely had their wages cut, making the extra burden of higher taxes hard on them. By having a large amount of people below the poverty line it affects everyone. Even though it seems like a personal trouble, it is most definitely a public issue because of its snowball effect on everyone.
ReplyDeleteCertain states are effected differently, particularity Oregon which trails national trends by ~6months. Oregon is a national leader in Child Health Insurance, because it's mandated through the state. However we need to FIX the 'Oregon Healthcare Lottery'.
ReplyDeleteOne of the biggest issues currently facing the government is Taxation issues. Since they fund programs from our tax-dollars and with a depression in Personal Income spending power they are receiving less money now; further increasing the part they have to pay out. A progressive tax is the4 best way to deal with this, but even a slight decrease in spending power from the Middle and Lower classes goes a far way. Arguing for a 'Fair Tax' would be horrible in the USA, relating to even more debt and less social programs being funded because of the despairity in the USA related to wealth.
I have to agree I think the poverty line is so low because of the unemployment rate in the US right now. But not only is the US in a recession, this is a global recession, which creates problems around the globe, especially since many jobs deal with foreign companies and workers.
ReplyDeleteAlmost everyone out there, whether rich or poor, knows at least 1 person who has lost their job and is struggling to "stay afloat" in their lives. To do so, many people have to go to food banks and get food stamps, and these people are usually already on welfare. Even people who aren't yet on welfare go to food pantries because that is how they are trying to stay above the poverty line.
Healthcare on the other hand is supposedly starting to reform, especially with the Child Health Insurance programs, which is why I believe there is a rise in Child healthcare. The decline in adult healthcare I believe is because more money is going to the children, and therefore their parents aren't getting this money, and can't pay for healthcare on their own. This is great for children, but those adults right around the poverty line are struggling more now because of it.
The increase in poverty is due to our decline in the economy from the recession, which has lead to an increase in unemployment. With more people unemployed than ever, this creates competition for selective jobs and causes people to need to go back to school for their degree. Since our economy is low, it is difficult for many people to pay tuition to be able to obtain that degree, especially if their money needs to be for supporting their family. This especially affects individuals and families who are below, near, or at the poverty line who cannot afford to go back to school just to be able to compete for a job with others. Having many people in our society below the poverty line or struggling to stay afloat affects everyone. With more people not being able to afford things, businesses will not have as much business and could possibly even close down. This goes to show that this change affects all different aspects of society.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with everyone's reasoning on why the poverty line is so low and the impacts it has on families and individuals. I also believe another contributing cause to the increase of the poverty rate is the continuation of the declining economy. If the economy continues to decline, then poverty rate will continue to drop as well.
ReplyDeleteAs I look at this situation, I can see this as a domino or chain affect as the recession hit the US. It affected the corporations/companies, then affecting employees, which affected families, and finally affecting single individuals(children) in families. Just out of curiosity, does anyone have any ideas on what could be the next thing in line that is affected by the recession?
I think that we can all agree on the affect of recession's impact on increasing levels of unemployment. This really causes an economy that everyone is affected by. I think the high cost of gas is also contributing to the recession we are experiencing. It now costs much more money to ship goods via fuel. Inflation has occurred in stores all over the nation, services and our college tuition to name a few. Look at groceries stores and the rising cost of food or even many airlines to go out of business as well due to this high fuel cost. So now not only are more people unemployed and bringing in less money, but they can't afford as many groceries and everyday necessities, especially those near or below the poverty line. Even our education, shown in the rise of college tuition has increased, putting a strain on those paying for our tuition, or causing us to take out more loans than usual. So many thousands of Americans are in debt, and I think during a time of recession it is extremely hard to get out of debt. We don't have the extra money to pay off our credit cards, so we incur more late fees and charges. It seems like this would really cause a more drastic difference between the income and affordances of the lower and upper classes. It seems like what Amy mentioned (above) that it really is a domino effect is right on, and I'm wondering what has to happen for the recession to come to an end?
ReplyDeleteThe poverty rate increasing is due to the fact that our economy is declining, which leads to unemployment. In which impacts on the families and individuals, as we mentioned in class last week. We talked about how in households if there isn't any money coming in to support the family and to be able to pay bills, families start to fall apart. In addition it will lead to an even higher divorce rate.
ReplyDeleteAlso, many people are going back to school in order to maintain their job if not to pursue a demanding career. I know that many people within the couple years have been going back to school to get their degree in Nursing, because of how much of a demand it is and its a job that is more likely to be guaranteed.
As people are coming near the poverty line or struggling to stay above is affecting everyone and everyone around the globe; contributing an increase on: tax, prices, closeouts, and etc. Within the last year I have noticed many department stores and companies close down because of the recession; especially since no one is willing to spend their money. We need to settle this issue soon, if not the increase in poverty rate will increase dramatically.
I definitely agree with what everyone on here has been saying, that the poverty rate is increasing due to our economy situation. People getting laid off is increasing due to the economic situation, and companies are raising their prices on their products to try and make up for the loses they have had as well. But how will people be able to pay for higher prices when more and more people are losing jobs, and becoming poor?
ReplyDeleteAs everyone has nicely put it, I as well think the the poverty rate has increased recently due to a multitude of factors. The economy has hit a rough patch, causing a chain of effects such as unemployment rates, which all contribute to this poverty rate of 13.2% as of last year.
ReplyDeleteThis chain of events has led to hardships among many American Families. With salaries declining, as well as health insurance coverage and costs differing, families are finding it hard to cope. As the economy continues to stay the way it is, cost of living rises, which also increases the poverty rate.
This issue can also touch on an educational point as well. With people getting laid off, the job market has become increasingly more competitive, resulting in many people going back to school to get a degree. With these people going back to school, many of them are lacking an income, resulting in a poverty rate increase.
All in all, there are many factors that contribute to the poverty rate, but when are we going to see changes to help this increasing poverty rate?
It is clear that there is a correlation between the national poverty rate and the high unemployment rates that have been recorded around the country. Just yesterday in The Oregonian the front page article was talking about Oregon's highest recorded unemployment rate; that it is much above the national average. Many things are contributing to this scary increase. The loss of jobs leads to the loss of benefits which leads to more people seeking federal aid. This is impacting many people across the economic spectrum. Those who already hovered around the poverty line might have to fight harder for benefits now that these problems are affecting more people. With the loss of jobs more people will be seeking unemployment benefits and other aid. The whole system might have to go under a reformation if an overload of people seeking benefits occurs. Which is a scary proposition, considering that President Obama needs $900 billion to fix our health care system. How much will it cost to get us out of poverty?
ReplyDeleteThe U.S. poverty rate was at 12.5 in 2007 and now the rate has reached 13.2 as of 2008. This is a very significant increase. As people have pointed out, this is partly because of increasing unemployment rates. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. unemployment rate stated 2009 at 7.6 percent and has increased to 9.7 percent just by August. This means that individuals and families that were below, near, and at the poverty line will have an even harder time overcoming their financial troubles due to the lack of jobs that are available.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the main cause to the increase in the poverty rate is the decline in jobs available in our society. Due to the recession, and the decrease in earnings for companies many people are getting laid off. I think that those who used to be close to the povetry line are now under the poverty line because of the economy. I think it's a domino effect. Every class is loosing money and becoming closer to the poverty line. Due to the lack of jobs available right now people are not as financially stable. It is becoming much harder to get out of finanical debt and I think that this is why we see the increase in the poverty rate.
ReplyDeleteI am in complete agreement with Brittany W., for i believe that the increase in poverty relies most on the fact that we are in a recession and the job market is not flowing the way it has in years past. Without the constant flow of jobs, people from all different money situations, i.e rich to middle to poor, are seeing a downfall not just in their own incomes, but in the prices of everything around them increasing. The poverty rate then in return is increasing all as an after affect of the loss of jobs.
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ReplyDeleteI believe that the increases the poverty rate these days are the lack of jobs. The lack of jobs is because of the lack of a stable economy. The lack of a stable economy is because of our unstable decisions in within the government sector (for example going to war). Bottom line it’s a domino effect, when something in society goes wrong something will end up getting damage too. We all depend on everything to work and we expect that when something goes wrong that there will be someone there to fix. Why should we wait? Why can’t we help out? If we don’t agree with people going hungry find ways to help. The impacts that poverty rate would have on individuals and families would be catastrophe. Most likely they would lose everything or have to give up things to be able to pay the bills. Also the individuals or families would most likely move into a different social class. Therefore, causing their outlook on how society works will change. As for society, it would also be impacted greatly. Although, not everyone would be impacted directly, their contribution to the government (in other words taxes) would go towards helping those who would get government assistance, in other words, help support individuals or families who are facing this situation.
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