Soaring Poverty Casts Spotlight on 'Lost Decade'

¶ … Soaring Poverty Casts Spotlight on 'Lost Decade' (2011) by Sabrina Tavernise addresses the soaring poverty rate in the United States of America. According to information recently released by the Census Bureau of 2010, the poverty rate is worse than it has been in decades. This past decade has become known as the "lost decade" as nothing has really changed since the last time the census was conducted, and that in itself is a problem. According to previous statistics of other progressing ten-year periods, generations are supposed to be doing better.

They are supposed to be making more money and progressing, however, this is not the case anymore. The children of the last generation are either doing just about the same as their parents, or even worse. Poverty has been caused by the high unemployment rate in the country. During this decade millions of jobs were lost and as a result, homes were lost, property was lost, and the dependence on social welfare programs have risen. The more time that a person is without employment, the less employable they become.

This has then caused a catch-22, as people who have been out of work for over a year, now cannot find any sort of employment to get them out of the poverty hole. The recession has hit families hard, and it is apparent by this hike in the poverty rate. Living in poverty does not just entail not having any financial backing. It also means that people cannot afford to pay their own rent. This causes people to have to move in with family members.

As was discussed in the article, individuals between the ages of 25 and 34 are actually having to live either back at home with their parents, or having to share a living space with friends in order to be able to afford anything. Other consequences of poverty are the social issues that this brings upon a community. Although this was not mentioned in the article, rates in crime and violence are also potential factors that could rise out of frustration of the situation.

Dependence on social services is also something that increases, and has effects on taxes, and state and federal funds, as the money has to be coming from somewhere. People have to eat and people have to live, and in order for all this to occur, some sort of financial structure needs to be in place. Although no direct proposed solutions were addressed in the article, the greatest solution of all is to fix the job market.

The article mentions the urgency for a job bill to pass and it also mentions that Obama's proposed job bill will be taken into consideration more now and with more urgency, as these numbers demonstrate a bleak reality that Americans are currently facing. Making more jobs for people is the only way for American families to become self-sufficient again, and this is the only way that the poverty issue could be addressed.

The author of the article does a great job in summarizing all of the important statistics involved in this social issue. The numbers that were mentioned really brings out the severity of poverty and how much this.