Against Poverty Essay Examples

The issue of poverty has been an ongoing problem that has yet to be properly solved. In 1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson made a speech about the fight against poverty. In 2015, it has become obvious that this fight has been lost. There are people all over the world that live in impoverished situations. In most places the economy is in shambles and what little aid the government can offer only helps to further break the pockets of tax paying individuals. When people are poor crime rates rise, education lowers, and taxes are raised. Therefore I say, no more poverty!
When desperate times call for desperate measures, turning to a life of crime seems to be the answer. Imagine a man that has just gotten a large paycheck. He has worked hard and done a job well done. He goes to the store and buys himself something nice, only to return home and find that he has been robbed of everything that he owns. The culprit is a stranger that needs money for food, clothes, and shoes. It may be a person that is desperate to feed their family. It is clear that the most common thread to most crimes is the need for money.
Imagine a young woman whose parent(s) cannot afford to feed her properly. Maybe she is too young to be able to work. Maybe she cannot find a job that pays enough to feed her family. For her, it’s easier to sell drugs than it is to struggle. Without poverty, there is no need for neighbors to rob neighbors. There is no desperation to rob the rich in order to feed the poor. If your neighbors can provide adequately for themselves, then they have no need to take what doesn’t belong to them. There is no need for the mugger to take your shoes because he or she has shoes of their own. Without poverty, there is no need for youth to resort to a life of crime just to get by.
Education is important. Most job markets require individuals to posses at minimum a high school diploma. Grandparents will often tell the story of how they dropped out of school to help bring money into the home. Unfortunately this is a story that still applies to families to date. Teens will drop out of high school in order to find work to help feed their family. In turn these teens will grow up to have children that they don’t know how to properly educate. Higher paying jobs will not be available to high school dropouts, thus the cycle continues. While education is important, it is also expensive. There are an increasing number of job markets that require individuals to have a bachelor’s degree. For the number of students that do manage to graduate high school there are an equal or higher number of students that do not go forward with higher education. Most cannot afford the cost. There are also a number of students that would rather brave the job market or commit crimes rather than be saddled with student loans they can’t afford to pay back. Without poverty, there is no need for children to drop out of school. More students can afford higher education. The threat of not being able to pay back student loans will no longer stop individuals from seeking higher education. Higher education means that people can pursue the higher paying jobs that will enable them to provide for their families properly. Therefore I say, the vicious cycle that is poverty must end!
Where there is poverty, the economy is not the only thing that suffers. Taxpayers suffer as well. Individuals are taxed higher than families and in most cases are barely able to live from paycheck to paycheck. Families paying taxes are maxed to the limit and this causes them the same problem. Government funding that goes towards the aid of impoverished families puts another added strain on taxpayer dollars. As an added stressor, government aid generally doesn’t cover single individuals without children. Without poverty, the number of people that are able to pay taxes increase. This increase in the number of taxpayers will ultimately result in less tax money going towards funding the impoverished. The decrease of impoverished families increase the opportunities of lower taxes, and open the possibilities of government funding towards better education and higher paying jobs.
Poverty is a global problem. It has both negative causes and effects. It produces a cycle that seems never ending. Poverty causes crime, stops progressive education, and breaks the pockets of hard working taxpayers. Without poverty the vicious cycle that is crime, low education and higher taxes decrease. Neighbors can help bolster neighbors rather then hinder them. There will not be a need to rob Peter to pay Paul. Without poverty children need not worry about providing for the family. Government funding can go towards increasing the job market and decreasing the cost of education. One solution is for the government to focus not on the fight against poverty, but to focus on the fight against what causes poverty. Poverty must come to an absolute end.