There are different kinds of poverty that you can measure. There is relative poverty that can be measured to the rest of the population. Relative poverty is measuring less than fifty percent than the average income or wealth that a person has. That means that if you make less than half of what the average person makes you are poor. Relative poverty still means that you are able to survive, but not to the standard that most are at. There is also absolute poverty. This means that you are unable to provide the necessary things that you need to survive in your daily life. Things like food shelter and medical attention. This is the measure that has set "The Poverty Line" developed by the Social Security Administration. The current poverty line is measured at $16,588 for a family of four. The poverty line is measured by the emergency food budget times three. This means that the food tha

t a family needs to survive multiply by three. You must think that the family must pay for their bills, mortgage, and their food with this money. Seventy percent of a families income goes to house them. According to the United States Census Service there are 34.5 million Americans that are poor. This consists of 12.7 percent of the United States population. This is an under estimate of the real poverty rate because the poverty line is very conservative. About eleven million people are just above the poverty line. United States has the highest poverty rate of the world's industrialize countries.

To blame the social system is to take the system blame approach. This means that you are blaming the social problems on a government, a society, and anything else that might act on an individual. System blame stems from situations in which individuals are involved. The problem with system blame is that it leaves off all the blame from the individual, saying that they have "no agency", or the ability to act on ones own, no free will.

The question that no one ever thinks to ask is: If we had no poverty would we still have the same kind of life. The answer is no. Poverty is a necessary form of the economic and social structure. Without poverty our society would most likely break down and inflation would sky rocket. Think if everybody had a job, money and a good standard of living. Wouldn't that make it harder to find and provide jobs. Employers would have to pay outrageous sums of money so the corporation can hire the employee. This would be a disaster because no one would need to stay at their job if there is no competition for it. The will and hard work of the citizens of this country has work to hard to throw it all away. Poverty effects not only the people who have it, but those who don't w

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1230
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)