Poverty in the USA

Most people all over the world think that the USA are a very rich country. If we look at the economic power of USA and the profit they make every year, it's a right fact. But unfortunately, this isn't the only thing. Perhaps the other side just exists because of this well-known site, but if so or so, it's reality: Poverty.

The US-American society is splitted into different groups, known as "social ranks", what's also normal in other countries like Germany. But in the USA live the richest and poorest. While the poeple on the one site live in the most modern houses with huge gardens, the people on the other site haven't got a house or just a normal flat. These people often live in the modern slums and ghettos of America. Districts where many people live on small room in rented flats are called 'ghettos'. 'Slums' are ghettos where the state of repair and social things is even badder then in normal ghettos, for example no sanitaries. The people in ghettos and slums haven't got much money. Lots of them live a wretched life in unemployment and because of this also a live with lots of worries.

But why had they to live like this? We can say that there are two reasons to have to live in poverty, so perhaps in a ghetto or even in a slum;

First, you are born "down" (you remember, I told you something about social ranks and the division between rich and poor). That means, that you grew up in a "broken" family with no or bad education, perhaps (and not rare) with violence, or you grew up in a poor family which hadn't the ways to help you with your education at school and couldn't support you.

Second, you are born "up", but slipped "down". That means, that you grew up in an intact family with good education, love and supporting, or you grew up in a family where you must get good marks and a good qualification, perhaps because it's good manners and others shouldn't think bad about your family. But then you lost your job, for example in an economic company and slipped down more and more. That's possible, because in the USA people get money because of their unemployment after employment for maximum 99 weeks, but normal just 26 weeks. After that time, they have to survive on their own. Now you think perhaps „Okay, I noticed. But they can go working again!“. The problem is that there are so many people and so less jobs. The state seems to help in this situation, offers training programm and arrange job interviews, but that can't solve the problem: There isn't enough work for all. And it's much worse. The problem is not only the actually lack of workplaces, in the future the situation will become even more drastic. That's because the workingplaces don't get extremely more, but the number of habitants of USA get bigger. The consequence: The unemployment and because of this also the poverty could become more.

Living in poverty is never nice, unimportant where. If you have slipped into poverty, you look back to your "old and good" life all the time and if you have lived in poverty since a long time, you look up to the people who have a better life than you. Poor people in the USA are depend on the alms of the state and organisations, like food pounds, income support* or soup kitchen. But what they get isn't much. So the mother Ined Morales with two children has to go to one of the "soup kitchens". Her job and naturally also her salary at "Nissan" has been reduced and she just get 283 Dollars social help from state every month. That's specially terrible, because she has a job and works (although her children are there!), but doesn't get enough help from the state to safe the life of her family (for me, „life“ means to have enough food, clothes and a living place).

(information about I. Morales from http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-61043-3.html )

I hope I could bring this subject area closer to you and have awaked your interest.

Interesting pages

A ghetto in NY City: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=300803

Short texts with photos (GERMAN): http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-61043.html