"America has been blessed with plenty: we are a generous population, and we thus have a moral obligation to help those suffering from famine, poverty, and war." These are the words of Adam Schiff, who was an influential and well-known United States representative. This words by Adam implies that although the United States is among the most prosperous and wealthy nations in the world, there is still a significant level of poverty. Statistics show that approximately 43.1 million Americans are living in poverty, which about 13.5% of the population requiring that the country takes action (Paul et al., 2018). Different people have different opinions regarding whether the government is responsible for eradicating poverty and helping the poor in society or whether individuals need to work on improving their situation. It is, however, the role of the government to take responsibility for helping the poor in the country as it has a huge impact on a country's productivity.
The fight against poverty started many years ago, with the government's support programs. Among these programs in the United States include Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance programs, and disability benefits such as Social Security Disability Income and Supplementary Security Income. A report by the Council of Economic Advisors concluded that there are still way too many Americans who still experienced poverty, some due to unemployment, wage stagnation, a decline in minimum wage and inequality (Paul et al., 2018). The United States Federal Job Guarantee is one of the job opportunity programs introduced in the United States. It was founded to help eliminate issues of unemployment and poverty, while also supporting an inclusive and robust economy. The establishment of the FJG would have an adverse effect on small businesses relying on low labor. Under the FJG program, the 2016 wage would have been at least $11.56 in benefits, a magnitude which would have increased the wages of millions of employees (Karnani, 2011) .
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According to statistics, between 2017 and 2018, the official rate of poverty fell by 0.5%, with a rise in incomes despite the pace being lower in the previous years (Wolfe & Blair, 2019). This marked the fourth year of continuous decline in poverty. Also, the United States Census Bureau has since 2010 released another way of measuring poverty level, known as Supplemental Poverty Measure. Statistics used to demonstrate that in 2018, Social Security managed to keep 27.3 million people, which is above the Supplemental Poverty Measure threshold (Wolfe & Balair, 2019). Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit was responsible for 7.6 million people, also above SPM threshold Other smaller programs also prevented 3 million individuals from falling under the poverty line. From these statistics, it is clear that without the efforts of the government programs, there could be more millions of people in the United States in poverty.
Education plays a vital role in increasing innovation, knowledge, and also increases job opportunities after acquiring the necessary skills. The education of human rights offers a unique method of bringing education, law, and international development together aimed at eradicating poverty (Greenberg et al., 2010) . Education offers young people the hope of employment, which renders them to develop a positive attitude towards life. For years, education in public schools in the United States has been free, which enables each child to access free education. This offers students an opportunity to further their education and improve their status in the future. The student loans have helped a significant number of students in the United States to access higher education, as there are a significant number of students from poor backgrounds who wouldn’t have managed to pay for further education. Nonetheless, this leaves the students in debt, while they find it hard to secure jobs after completing their studies. There has been an increase in the population of graduates who are still seeking employment opportunities to no avail. Statistics show that the rate of unemployment of graduates in the US between December 2018 and December 2019 had increased dramatically. By the end of 2019, approximately 3.9% of college graduates were not employed in the US. This plays a huge role in the high level of poverty in the United States (Greenberg et al., 2010) .
Poor children have been having been at the forefront of suffering the consequences of poverty in the United States. The children of poor families and most of the marginalized communities suffer the pain of poverty. Some of these children are those of the illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children. According to Wolfe & Blair (2019), the government is responsible for supporting the programs which are vital in ensuring that children are listed out of poverty: about 7.9 million individuals were listed from poverty by receiving refundable tax credits, out of whom 4.2 of them were children. Also, out of the 3.9 million individuals who were kept out of poverty, 1.3 million were children (Wolfe & Blair, 2019). The housing subsidies also go a long way to shield more than 900,000 children from poverty. This is a demonstration of the importance of the government in ensuring that children are out of the poverty line. Efforts to protect these children and give them the right to free education in the US were made by former President Barrack Obama in 2012 through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) (Hipsman, 2016). Although they were to renew the contract every two years, they had an opportunity to access equal rights. This demonstrated the government's efforts to eradicate poverty and increase literacy among immigrants' children. Nonetheless, Trump's government failed in protecting these children as they prevented further DACA registration. Children from low-income families also suffer in terms of adequate healthcare access. They might not manage to pay for their healthcare services, which necessitates the input of the government. The parents of these children might be unable to insure themselves and their children due to their poverty status, which brings out healthcare access for poor children a huge issue. Eradicating poverty in the society by the government will result in significant benefits not only to the government but to the society as a whole. A decrease in poverty will help the government to solve the issue of unemployment. Their input has been felt by the marginalized groups, and children which demonstrates that the government is in need responsible for reducing poverty to the level that it has managed this far.
Although some scholars feel that the government should be responsible for resolving the issue of poverty, other people, including researchers, feel that there are other parties who can play a huge role in reducing the rates of poverty in the country. In reference to Rosenman (2006), conservatives hold that the poverty-related issues have been caused by the failure of personal responsibility rather than economic or broader societal dynamics. Their argument is that the issue is with the poor people rather than poverty, and therefore the remedy is approaching one person after the other, but not correcting inadequacies in the governmental policies, institutions, and programs (Roseman, 2006). Also, non-profit organizations are also viewed as having a responsibility to play a part in reducing poverty levels. Another article by Fanning (2020), the non-profit sector, also has a significant role in the efforts towards eradicating poverty. These groups include food pantries, Children Hunger Alliance, San Francisco Food Bank, and The Walk for Hunger, among others. Their argument is, therefore, that the government is not the only party that has the responsibility of ending poverty. While some argue that the government cannot manage to end poverty in the country, some add to the need of non-profit organizations to chip in and help with poverty eradication.
The government has a huge responsibility to help the poor and eradicate poverty as it has a huge impact on the citizens. Over the years, the government has been playing a significant role in the efforts of ending poverty. It has used a vast number of programs, such as tax credits, social services, subsidies, among other programs to help support people who are drowning in poverty. Their efforts are evident in the statistics, which demonstrates the large number of people that the government programs have helped through poverty. Children have also benefited from government programs. One of the programs was the DACA program, which advocated for the protection of the rights of illegal immigrants. Despite these successes by the government, there have been researchers who argue that the issue of poverty lies within individuals, while others argue that the input of non-profit organizations and other groups can help in the fight against poverty. Nonetheless, the government has played a huge role in the efforts of fighting against poverty, and there has been significant improvement.
References
Fanning, J. (2020). 99 Great Organizations: Confronting Poverty & Hunger. Retrieved April 4, 2020, from https://mswonlineprograms.org/poverty-hunger/
Greenberg, M., Greenberg, G., & Mazza, L. (2010, November 23). Food pantries, poverty, and social justice. Retrieved February 20, 2020, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2951938/
Hipsman, F., Gómez-Aguiaga, B., & Capps, R. (2016). DACA at Four: Participation in the Deferred Action Program and Impacts on Recipients.”. Notes , 1 (398,000), 228-000.
Rosenman, M. (2006, April 25). Poor People or Poverty: Charity or Government (SSIR). Retrieved March 4, 2020, from https://ssir.org/articles/entry/poor_people_or_poverty_charity_or_government
Wolfe, J. & Blair, H. (2019). Government programs kept tens of millions out of poverty in 2018. (2019, September 11). Retrieved March 5, 2020, from https://www.epi.org/blog/government-programs-keep-tens-of-millions-out-of-poverty/
Karnani, A. (2011). Fighting Poverty Together. Palgrave Macmillan, A division of Nature America zinc. pp.11-12.
Paul, M., Jr., W. D., Hamilton, D., & Zaw, K. (2018). A Path to Ending Poverty by Way of Ending Unemployment: A Federal Job Guarantee. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences , 4 (3), 44. DOI: 10.7758/rsf.2018.4.3.03
