The last part of the book “The
American Way of Poverty” has really hit me hard. Abramsky used words to describe what poverty
is on page 237. “Poverty is when the
money that you need isn’t there, and you have to make choices that compromise
your health or your future or your ability to care for your family” (Abramsky,
2013). People should not have to worry
or make a choice on whether to buy heat for their house or food for their
family. Health care should be something
that is reasonably priced and should not be bankrupting anyone. On page 251 “In 2012 America, six million
people had no sources of cash income, relying exclusively on food stamps and
the charity of friends, relatives, churches, and nonprofits to survive” (Abramsky,
2013).
I really wish more people who have
the power to change the world should read this book. I think that there is great information in
this book that needs to be publicized so the citizens of the United States can
be made aware and given the chance to end poverty in America. On page 257 Abramsky talked about giving
money to babies that are born and while it would cost America around $2 billion
a year in the long run it would save Americans.
This money would go into a college fund for infants and by the time they
were 18 years old and ready to use the money the $500 that they started off
with would have increased significantly.
This was called an equal opportunity fund. If the child ended up not going to college
the money could then be used for his or her retirement. They should not have the opportunity to spend
it as this wish. It should help better
them for their future. This would help
encourage families to save for college and make college more affordable for
everyone.
The book also discusses the prison
statistics on page 269. “In 2011, the
California Senate’s office of research conducted a study of the state’s 171,000
prison inmates: it found that 14 percent had been in foster care” (Abramsky,
2013). The book also states that the
United States stops providing foster care for kids when they reach 18 years of
age. At 18 most kids are not mature
enough to be on their own and if they had been in foster care they are more
likely to be dealing with issues that hinder their thought process and make it
harder for them to achieve success on their own. Foster care should at least go through age 21
to help get kids on their feet and on the right track. Even kids not in foster care their brains
aren’t even fully developed by age 18.
They don’t always make sound choices for themselves.
Abramsky talked about the EITC
which is the earned income tax credit. This
was described several times in the book.
Right now some states do not offer this and some states do but it might
be based on your income. This needs to
be given to all US citizens to help keep them out of poverty. This quote describes how the EITC will help
American’s. “And partly, through
designing them well, we make sure that these programs help fund themselves:
Increasing the EITC, for example, by providing low-income families more money
to spend on nutritional food and on preventive healthcare, reduces the medical
costs associated with large numbers of low-weight and premature
babies”(Abramsky, 2013). The book also
discussed adding a 1% tax to everyone to provide extra money and keep people
out of poverty. I really wish someone
would try these ideas out just to see how well they work. We could always go back to the way things
used to be but we are not going to know how well something works unless we give
it a try.
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