Session 9

·         Who you think is poor, both in the United States and globally.

            This session again confirmed that highest percentage of poor consist of African Americans, single mothers and children. The American dream film showed a single mother and a single father who were both African American as surviving on low income.

            Also people who were on welfare program during the Clinton administration, were statistically helped and aided better. More people had jobs when they left the program and also gained work experience as well as education while being on the program. After 2004, this completely changed. Higher number of people were unemployed and they received welfare benefits for a shorter amount of time.

·         Why you believe people are poor in the United States and globally.

       A lot of poverty comes from a young age or a previous generation. Apparently the single parents who have low income and are supporting a family were in the same place as their children when they were young. They themselves were raised by a single parent on low income and now they have a child in the same situation. It seems like an endless cycle.

            Another reason that derives from the first is teenage pregnancy. A lot of single mothers have a child at a very early age and can barely support the child with the time they have. They can work a fulltime job, but then have to pay for childcare and if they worked less to take care of their child they would barely survive off the money they make.  

            Also, the welfare program being separated on a level of federal and state government does not help the people on welfare. In Georgia, the benefits last less than 60 months whereas in other states with less poverty rates, it is 60 months or more. The maximum benefits are also less in GA and the south overall even the fact that the south has the highest poverty rate in America.

 ·         What you think is being done about poverty

            The government of the U.S. has put into place several anti-poverty programs. Many administrations have also tried to reform welfare with Clinton administration being the first to have a major healthcare reform.

            Programs such as Mothers pension, ADC, and AFDC are the main programs offered by the goverment. AFDC was a major change in the 1996 reform act and was transformed into TANF.

            There is a fairly recent anti poverty program put into place as well. The EITC (earned income tax credit) helps poor families get more tax rebates. Also married parents with more children get more credit.

·         How well you think poverty is being addressed currently in the United States and globally.

The welfare programs are sub-par at the best in the United States today. Newer programs like EITC is a step in the right direction for reforming welfare. As for separating federal and state benefits, that really damages more than helping poor people. Georgia only spends 2% of its budget on these welfare programs, which is just sad.

 ·         What you personally think should be done about poverty in United States and globally (e.g., policies, programs you would suggest).

            I think instead of encouraging families to not have kids out of wedlock, the government should have educational programs to even think about having kids after marriage. The endless cycle as see in the movie in Angie's case proves that. People first need to have financial responsibility and security before planning a kid as that not only affects the parents, but more importantly the child's.

            Also programs like TANF should be federally governed instead of individual states choosing their own agenda. Programs like EITC are also good for progress.

          

Session 7

·         Why you believe people are poor in the United States and globally.

       According to statistics shown in this session, lower wage blue collar workers remain poor due to a freeze on minimum wage since July of 2009. This chapter shines light on how people working for $7.25 or less per hour do not even make enough to self sustain themselves.

 ·         What you think is being done about poverty

            The minimum wage increase has only taken place in some states. The Federal minimum wage is stuck at $7.25/hour while Georgia's minimum wage is at $5.15/hour. I learned that a group called 9 to 5 is trying to raise awareness about the living wage, which would increase the poor families income by a while 130%. This would set a standard wage for certain jobs and would include healthcare as well. About 120 cities so far have taken on the living wage and have already benefited without any major setbacks. There are definitely people and groups out there trying to abolish poverty from different angles, but they just do not have the power to create a huge impact yet.

·         How well you think poverty is being addressed currently in the United States and globally.

         Apparently the federal minimum wage has not been raised since 2009 and the GA minimum wage was $5.15 till the federal took over. This just shows that the cost of living is getting higher, but the income stays the same. This shows that the government is not putting poverty as one of their top priorities yet.

 ·         What you personally think should be done about poverty in United States and globally (e.g., policies, programs you would suggest).

            After reading this chapter, I really do support the living wage. This would help poor families self sustain and also have access to health insurance without socializing the entire health care system. This would also make companies who get tax dollars from the government, be more ethical and keep them in check. I also agree with the organization 9 to 5 to raise awareness about the many pros towards the living wage. This would definitely create a better standard of living and boost the economy as well. 
                However, one thing I do not agree about with the 9 to 5 project is that raising the servers and waiters wage from $2.13 all the way to the federal minimum wage level. I personally used to work as a server and was paid the same amount 3 years ago, but the amount of tips I received, it made the wages almost close to $10/hour. Obviously this would vary from locations and jobs, but this was just a diner with no bar. Also when they mention that they have to share their tips with other people, its only with the busboy's and that too on credit card transactions. The cash tip is 100% theirs to keep. The information provided in the video is the bare minimum with no strong premises to back it up. 
               Another point I keep picking up from these chapters is that education is definitely the key towards a better income. Majority of the people on the poverty level have not secondary education. Another thing I believe should be done is educate people on financial planning. Majority of the population mentioned to be poor in these chapters are single moms. The younger generation need to be educated to be financially stable before having kids and not the other way around as that does not work out well.

              

Session 6

·         Who you think is poor, both in the United States and globally.

            According to this session, there are four theories to define who is poor. Lack of money and through that leverage of human capital, cultural shortcomings, economic processes and politics and structural and institutional factors. The human capital includes knowledge, skills and education. Apparently people with less than a High School have a population of 23% that is living in poverty in the United States. People with a High School Degree have a 10% and bachelors degree have a 3% poverty rate.

Also African Americans are poor due to discrimination and racism which prevents them from moving up. On the contrary, Lewis argued that the poor are poor due to their own faults through behavioral faults.

Also females tend to have a higher rate of poverty due to their lack of resources as well as majority of the time them being the head of household. In Sweden, women have a poverty rate of around 7% as compared to the U.S. which is 28%, even after Sweden having more percentage of children in a single family, that is a huge difference!

·         Why you believe people are poor in the United States and globally.

       There are many causes to poverty. Some of them which I learned in this session are:

 Lower Education, language barriers, drug abuse, family structure and conditions, immigration status and political conditions. Like I had stated before, these are both helplessness and self-defeating ways of poverty.

There is also a big emphasis on class inequality causing poverty according to Karl Marx.

 ·         How well you think poverty is being addressed currently in the United States and globally.

            In Sweden, women have a higher rate of pay than women in the United States. Great government programs as well.

 ·         What you personally think should be done about poverty in United States and globally (e.g., policies, programs you would suggest).

            After reading this session, I have to disagree on a lot of solutions that were pointed out. When it mentions the reason for poverty among African Americans is a lot due to racism, I totally disagree. We live in a globalized world. Even though racism does exist in certain parts of society, in my opinion it does not affect ones poverty rate. Same thing for women, they are paid equally or greater than men in the workplace if they have the same qualifications. I think instead of implementing a Marx socialist policy in our country, we need to think and imaging what it would actually do. The distribution of wealth would bring down the number of skilled labor which would lead to the collapse of the economy. No one would be motivated to go and seek higher education of the wealth is distributed equally.

Instead of implementing such hardcore policies, the government should re-allocate tax spending. Instead of using it towards foreign policy, war, economic bailouts, the government should in fact use it towards domestic growth. As I said before, build more educational institutions, increase the literacy rate and increase government jobs in the process.