PRAIRIE DOC®
  • Home
  • About
  • People
  • Television
  • Podcasts
  • Perspective
  • Donate
  • Contact
  • Foundation
  • Book

The Trap of Poverty

11/11/2018

 

The Trap of Poverty

By Richard P. Holm, MD
 
The U.S. is rated as the tenth wealthiest country in the world. The financial Web site 24/7 Wall St. clarifies that there are two reasons we are not considered wealthier: 1. We have the world’s largest gap between the rich and the poor, which continues to grow 2. We are the only developed nation in the world without universally available health care. The second issue of health care goes hand in hand with poverty. Poverty, not ethnicity, is strongly associated with mental health problems, crime, overcrowding, malnutrition and illness. Poverty also affects children more than others. All of us would be better off if poverty was reduced.
 
The U.S. Census defines poverty depending on the number in the family. For a single person, poverty means a yearly income below about $12,500 and, for a family of four, that number is about $24,000. In 2016, the U.S. Census found about 13% of our general population is in poverty. When we break that down by ethnicity, 28% of Native Americans, 27% of single parent families, 26% of African Americans, 23% of Hispanics, and 21% of disabled people live below the poverty line. Again, experts clarify that some of the most major problems in our country are associated with poverty, not ethnicity.
Contrast this with the growing billionaire class. A Forbes Magazine study stated that the rich are getting richer in a way not witnessed since the first gilded age a century ago. Josh Hoxie, co-author of the Forbes report, said “So much money concentrating in so few hands, while so many people struggle, is not just bad economics, it’s a moral crisis.” For example, the wealthiest 400 people in the U.S. now have more money than the total of the lowest 64% of the U.S. population.
Poverty is a U.S. humanitarian shortcoming within our own borders which, I personally believe, is the core issue about which our political leaders should give their greatest attention. I don’t claim to have the answers to poverty, but our country could do better in making available to all: affordable health care, satisfying jobs with living wages, and quality and affordable pre-school and higher-education. I believe political leaders should be intensely studying the issue of poverty and how to support people in need while encouraging opportunities for rewarding work. All of us, rich and poor alike, could personally try to attack this problem, especially locally.
 
Addressing poverty will also address mental health problems, crime, overcrowding, malnutrition and illness; especially the way these issues so severely affect children. Helping all people caught in the trap of poverty will immeasurably raise all boats and make everyone in our society safer and happier.
 
Watch On Call with the Prairie Doc® most Thursdays at 7 p.m. central on SDPTV and follow the Prairie Doc® on Facebook and YouTube for free and easy access to the entire Prairie Doc® library.
 

Comments are closed.

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

PRAIRIE DOC® MEDIA IS A PART OF HEALING WORDS FOUNDATION.

FIND SCIENCE-BASED PEDIATRIC MEDICAL INFORMATION ON OUR SISTER SITE. 
Healing Words Foundation logo
Play Eat Sleep logo
  • Home
  • About
  • People
  • Television
  • Podcasts
  • Perspective
  • Donate
  • Contact
  • Foundation
  • Book