Why there is Poverty (available in:
Manhattan)
Date: Apr 8, 2005 13:21:36 PM CST
First, it's important to clarify poverty, which is a relative concept. The poor in a rich country like the United States live like tycoons compared to the poor in third or fourth world countries. There are different reasons for what we call poverty here and the widespread, crushing poverty in some third and fourth world countries.
The long-term poor in the United States (and many people who are poor at one time don't stay poor -- e.g., grad students who appear poor on the Census and later go on to decent-paying jobs) tend to be poor because of cultural reasons for the most part. Many of them were raised by poorly-educated single parents who lived on the dole and didn't raise their children to understand the importance of education and work ethic. There are also some at the bottom end of the income scale who remain there because of drug and alchohol dependancy or mental illness. Often government programs designed to help the poor (e.g., the Great Society)
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