The Poor vs the Poor, Essay Example

Mahatma Gandhi said, “Poverty is the worst form of violence” (Brainy Quotes). Poverty in today’s society is a serious issues, as the United States’ economy is slowly recovering from its recession that raised the unemployment level to an astounding rate leaving over 12 million people without a job. The downturn in the economy did more harm to an already growing number of millions of Americans that are deep into poverty. There is a severe gap between the 1 percent and rest of the population that is a far stretch between the rich, the middle class, and the lower class. Robert Reich and John Galbraith have both written separate articles that discussing the problem of poverty in the United State. This paper will compare and contrast, Galbraith. “The Position of Poverty” and Reich’s (1991), “Why the Rich Are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer.” By examining the main ideas that both articles characterized such as poverty, the role of the United States government, and the wide gap between the rich and the poor.

Everyone can majority agree that there is poverty is a significant problem plaguing not only the United States but the world also. It is essential when the main media ignores increasing number of Americans lived below the poverty line. In both articles, Reich and Galbraith discuss the problems of poverty in the United States. According to Reich, at one time all Americans were roughly in the same economical class, through the ups and downs of corporations and the national economy, currently, “we are now in different boats, one sinking rapidly, one sinking more slowly, and the third rising steadily” (Reich 420). Reich iterates that we live in an “hourglass economy” that are influenced by the increase in automation and mechanization of the workforce, seniority, the secession of the rich, and outsourcing. Galbraith discuss two different categories of poverty which include, insular and case poverty. Insular poverty is poverty that is prevalent in an entire area. Poverty is caused by the area in which the poor live. According to Galbraith, “people are poverty-stricken when their income, even if adequate for survival, falls radically behind that of the community” (Galbraith 407). While case poverty is where individuals are poor from a result that is directly related to them albeit mental disability, unemployment, or laziness. “The poor farm family with the junk-filled yard and the dirty children playing in the bare dirt” (Galbraith 407).

In more cases in the United State the cause of poverty is generally insular. The environments that millions of lower class Americans live are characterized as deficient and substandard that individuals that are born and raised in these areas are given a slim chance to get out or succeed. Unlike Reich, Galbraith blames the problems of poverty on the U.S government is to blame. “People are poverty-stricken when their income, even if adequate for survival, falls radically behind that of the community” (Galbraith 407). The differences in each article is that while Reich discuss the lower class of those that toe the poverty line in the United States, but Galbraith discusses at length poverty not only in the United States but in England, and what the state of poverty in the past and the present. Galbraith explains that poverty can be situational or can be due to an unchangeable state where individuals are born into environments where prosperity and success are not promoted. Reich doesn’t offer any solutions to problems of poverty instead of just discussing the situation in which the outsourcing of jobs and other factors are causing many Americans to fall into the lower class Galbraith does however, provide several solutions and suggestions that can help to solve the problems of both cases of poverty in the United States that includes, government intervention by providing schools, and better housing that would help to curve more people out of the poverty class.

The government plays an essential role in the state of their residents. The lack of government intervention in helping to curb the problems of the lower class is prominent in many factors that include lack of healthcare, resources, and an increase of people on social programs such as Food Stamps, Welfare, and others. In both articles they discuss the roles of the government. Reich mentions that major corporations such as Sony, Philips, and Toyota factories have appeared throughout the United States that has been allowed by mayors, governors, and other politicians that have been lured them with tax abatements and other amenities to fatten their pockets. (Reich 424) While the government has supported and promoted major corporations to build factories throughout the United States, Reich notions that many have laid of thousands of routine workers, where the factories situated in foreign countries are not employing American workers. Due to the government lax rules and regulations to lure factories to the United States they have begun to move their factories where they can do the work for cheaper than the United States.

Galbraith on the other hand sees that the government’s role of the political position which has change. Politicians have commonly tried to align themselves with the lowest estate to politically pander for their own self interests. However, politicians now, “regularly aligns himself not with the poverty-ridden members of the community but with the far more numerous people who enjoy the far more affluent income…” (Galbraith 409). Political figures represented in both articles pander to individuals for their own self-interest. In Reich’s article the government pandered to major corporations to build factories within the United States, while in Galbraith’s article political figures representing the government pandered to the poorer individuals for their own agendas. As far as the representation of the government on poverty, Galbraith illustrated more political problems and more need for government intervention.

The problems that both articles due discuss is that there is a wide gap between the rich and the lower class. As mention earlier, Reich describes the society as a boat that one is sinking rapidly and the other is sinking slowly, while one is rising.(Reich 420) The three classes, are mainly important as the lower class keeps getting poorer from the lack of available jobs from outsourcing and competition from countries that are willing to work for less. The middle class is slowly going down, due to lower salaries and competition from immigrants. The upper class is rising because there are able to sell their ideas to foreign countries, being equipped with educated individuals that are trained in professions that are in charge of building and construction. They are able to get higher salaries than those in the other classes. Galbraith on the hand acknowledges that politicians and the government due nothing to aid the poor. If they are jobs that are outside the environments, either qualify and escape or those that don’t. The wealthy in the affluent society assures that the poor or lower class should have the minimum income that is essential for comfort and decency. (Galbraith 409) The differences is that Galbraith discusses more on the causes of poverty and things that can help to solve the problems of the lower class. Reich however, provides the problems of why the lower class is in the position, and how it is getting lower while the rich keep getting richer.

Reich and Galbraith both discuss the problems of poverty, the roles of the government, and the gap between the wealthy and the poor. The similarities that both authors have is that they both offer information on the problems of poor in the United States. Where they differ however is the causes of poverty, the solutions that are needed, and how the poor are being pushed aside. Galbraith provides a better discourse, while Reich focuses on the changing job market in the U.S.

Works Cited

Brainy Quotes. “Poverty Quotes.” 2013. Web. 11 Oct. 2013. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/poverty.html

Galbraith, John Kenneth. “The Position of Poverty.” A World of Ideas: Essential Reading for College Writers. Lee A. Jacobs. 7th ed. New York; Bedford St. Martins, 2006. pp 406-413.

Reich, Robert B. “Why the Rich Are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer.” A World of Ideas: Essential Reading for College Writers. Lee A. Jacobs. 7th Ed. New York; Bedford St. Martins, 2006. Pp 420-433.