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As we all know, the global economy is down. People are being laid off. Jobs are not being created. Companies are slashing costs to build on low profits. Pension and retirement funds are down. And people are struggling to pay the bills.
London’s poverty levels are on the rise. In the United States, a single person earning below $11,201 per year is in poverty. That number is $14,417 for a couple, or about $22,000 for a family of four. My income is off the chart for a family with eight children, though I highly doubt I could support ten people on my income.
In the United States, at last measure (2007), about 10% of the population was living below the poverty line. For homes with a female head of household, that number was nearly 30%. About half of all households in poverty in the United States have a single female as the head of the household. The highest poverty rate, since I can find measurements for, was in 1959, with a poverty rate of 18.5%.
Dealing with poverty is a highly debated subject in the Western world. In the US, a limited welfare program is in place to help people get back to work quickly, even if that work would keep the family in poverty. In most of Western Europe, the government does more to make sure a family is provided for in the long run. In Israel, many families have lived on welfare for generations, particularly in the most religious areas. Israel’s policies ensure families are always taken care of.
This is a blog that preaches self sufficiency and taking responsibility for your own actions. That said, for the first time, I will give you a little taste of my political feelings toward welfare. I think our government needs to take responsibility to ensure people can get back to work in a job that can sufficiently support their families. I do not support current welfare to work programs, that often put people in minimum wage jobs and keeps them in poverty. I support education to work programs that train people to do jobs that pay more. I support a livable wage.
What do you all think of my ideas? What do you think of welfare in general? How do you propose we deal with poverty? Please tell us what you think in the comments.
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