All fifty states have income-maintenance programs, but the qualifications and rule vary from state to state. In each state, they calculate their poverty rates. The number of states that had an increase in poverty rate, in 1995 to 1997 was twenty-two states. The other twenty-eight states had a decrease in poverty rate. From 1996 to 1997 there were three states: Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina that had a poverty decrease while two states Arkansas and New Hampshire showed increases in their poverty rate. To answer the question, is poverty on the rise? The answer is no. Poverty for the time being is declining. There are more and more people giving better jobs or getting off public assistance programs. In my own opinion, poverty is decreasing because people are realizing that public assistance programs are getting tougher and tougher to receive benefits and they won't be around for ever. Today, it may have finally made it through to people that the value of a higher education is pretty much a necessity to succeed. ...
