poverty

Many of us when we think of poverty we think of third world countries. Perhaps because we are presented with images of poverty on the news or movies like Slum Dog Millionaire or City of Gods and form commercials asking to donate to help feed the poor children in a foreign country. Here in our own back yard in the USA we have families that are poor.  These documentaries may not be as popular as blockbuster movies, but all of these videos are about poverty in our own country.  

What is a Living Wage focuses on the public policy of providing a wage that allows workers to make enough money to survive without government assistance. Critics of the living wage say that the policy is a job killer because workers make more money than most laborers make and more than most companies can afford to pay, and so those companies don’t hire workers. However, only companies that are subsidized by the government are required to pay the living wage, and the assistance those companies get should also benefit the workers. 

Living Wage in New York focuses on the public policy of supporting workers in a way that allows them to function in the economy where they live. The policy is to support workers so they will not require government assistance and so they can be self sufficient. This video addresses the critics of the living wage, saying that the living wage in New York, even though it’s about three dollars more per hour than the federal minimum wage, is not excessive and is necessary in order to keep those workers out of poverty and allow them to live in the very expensive city of New York.

Demonizing the Inner City shows how the media portrays the culture of poor people as living in the inner city, being lawless and drug addicted, having children out of wedlock, having no values, and being responsible for crime. Many people believe that the poor in some way deserve to be poor because of their lifestyle, lack of motivation, and poor choices. The public supports laws that punish the behavior believed to be done by poor people. For example, by requiring life sentences for the third felony. The policy behind laws like that is to incarcerate poor people to prevent them from behaving in undesirable ways. But this video shows that in reality, many of the poor who collect welfare don’t live in inner cities, are not minorities, and do not participate in criminal lifestyles. 

Born in the USA shows the culture of poor white people in the south. Some have lived for two or more generations in poverty, and they are more likely to be poor because they were born poor. Others are also poor because of their situation: divorce, injuries, job loss. The culture of the poor sometimes includes having larger families because family is all they have, not wanting their children to be educated because they become more likely to leave the family. The public policy behind the welfare reform of 1991, which requires people on welfare to get a job within 2 years, or the welfare payments will stop. This policy tries to discourage and break the multigenerational poverty cycle and encourage poor people to work.