The poverty threshold is something that is brought up
frequently in today’s society which may be the reason why I found it so intriguing
in the lecture. The poverty threshold could also be known as the poverty line.
It is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. It
is determined by the minimum amount of food needed for a family to survive.
This is about income and not wealth. It is based on how much money you bring in
instead of what you currently have. The threshold is determined by many
factors. One factor that can influence what the threshold is at would be the
number of people in each family. If there are more people, the threshold will
be higher and if there are less people, the threshold will be lower. These numbers can also change as time goes
on. The rate will changed based on the level of inflation at the time. However
I can see how this system has a few flaws.
One main issue I see is that it does not consider the
differences in housing. It may not be the cost of food that are causing debt,
it could greatly be due to today’s cost of housing. Housing these days is more
expensive than it was in the 60s and unless they calculate the differences in
inflation that will continue to cause problems. Another problem is how people
view “families.” The families today do not resemble what they use to in the
60s. Families that are blended can run into different complications with this
system. Also, in some states, same-sex couples are not considered married or
families. This can prevent them from receiving some of these rights that other
families do.
While I believe that this system is very helpful to society, I also
believe that it would not hurt to do some updating and consider more factors that are
relevant in today’s society.
I say agree that this information is usefull, as from what I can tell it is from the best sources available. A scale or measurement is of course needed to adress any problems or even find them in the first place. The problem I propose, is the selfishness or ignorance of the private sector. In that with the identification of a need, the real remedy, New job industries in an area, are not on a large enough scale expanding into these areas of need. Seriously, there is a demand for jobs, and a need for workers, that is not working together eficiently.
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