Poverty and the Social Security System

Paper Summary:

This paper relates that, despite the variety of social security and welfare programs were introduced to support the poorer and unemployed population, poverty persisted in the affluent society of the U.S. The author points out that poverty in America has a diverse view from the rest of the world as indicated by statistics of U.S. Department of Commerce (2001), which indicated that a typical American defined as poor by the government has a car, air conditioning, a refrigerator, a stove, a clothes washer and dryer and a microwave, far from the popular images of dire poverty conveyed by the press, liberal activists and politicians. The paper concludes that the Social Security is the U.S. government's greatest success story; by creating more jobs, improving educational facilities, eliminating corruption and by making optimum utilization of social security programs, the U.S. can virtually eliminate remaining poverty from the American society.

Table of Contents
Factor Responsible for Increase in Poverty
Poverty in United States of America
Diverse Definitions of Poverty in United States
Social Security Program
Methods of Reducing Poverty
Conclusion
Table 1: Ownership of Property and Consumer Goods among Poor Family-Units

From the Paper:

"The NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government conducted a joint survey, which revealed that Americans aren't thinking a lot about the poor these days. However, when they are asked about it directly, most Americans think that poverty is still a problem in this country, even in these generally prosperous times. In fact, a majority of Americans think poverty is not just a problem but a big problem. But they define it in a different way, 64% Americans say that a family of f our with an income of $20,000 is poor, whereas 42% say that a family of four earning $25,000 is poor. It shows great political divisions in the country on the subject of poverty."

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