distribution problem or size distribution of income. (Schiller 734) For example, some citizens have an annual income of several billion dollars while other citizens have no income whatsoever. The incidence of poverty in the United States is usually referred to as the poverty rate. The figure below shows the trend in the poverty rate between 1960 and 1995. During the beginning of the 1960s, 22.2% of the population, or 39.9 million individuals, officially lived in poverty. During the 1970s the incidence of poverty fell to 12.6% of the population. Since 1970, the poverty rate has steadily increased to 13.8% of the population in 1995, or 7.5 million families. The figures are even greater among certain family groupings such as single family households headed by females with children under the age of 18. In fact, the highest rates of poverty are found among this group living below the poverty threshold level. (Sharp, Register, and Grimes 202) Table 1 shows the poverty threshold levels in 1995. Table 1, Poverty threshold levels in 1992 Family Size, Threshold Level 1- $7,763 2- 9,933 3- 12,158 4- 15,569 5- 18,408 6- 20,804 7- 23,552 8- 26,237 9 or more 31,280. Again, the poverty issue affects a large portion of the United States population. It is because of the reasons mentioned above that social welfare programs have been established to help alleviate the suffering of the poor within our society. But, what causes poverty? At first, this would appear to be a simple question to answer. Lets first define what poverty is: Poverty or poor means not having enough income to provide the essentials of everyday living food, shelter, clothing, and other basic needs.(Schiller 751) However, many factors are at play in determining the actual causes of poverty. They include low quality of resources, low market values on the services they provide in a market, low productivity, low pay of the poor due to low levels of education ...
