Yes it is a fare question “Why Can’t We End Poverty in America”. Answers to this question comes from all kinds of people with all kinds of perspectives. Can anyone define what poverty is? Is it the difference between rich and the poor?  Is it a person cannot eat food because no money? To answer the first question I am poor in comparison to Bill Gates. The second question that need to be studied and an answer needed.  I am also doing the same giving my opinion. Most of the time perspectives, opinions  even solutions will take a long journey will run around everywhere and when it comes to enact any solution then selfishness of every one will kick in and all the talks becomes crocodile tears.

Does any ideology will find a solution: Such as socialism, communism and capitalism? We have seen these ideologies at work in different parts of the world and no country has wiped out poverty using an ideology or a kind of government. That means an ideology or a political system not capable of eliminating poverty then what will? When elections come in all democracies this question of poverty appears in the front pages and debates. All politicians run around and give false hopes and promises to people. Once election is over these promises will take the back seat. This is typical of all political parties in all countries. Unfortunately the poor people are used by politicians as votes not as human beings. There are disguised leaders for poor people work in these communities as saviors. In reality they are influence peddlers to fill their own pockets.

In order to eliminate poverty, we have to think outside of politics, economic systems, religion, race and culture. Poverty has no color, religion or political affiliation. Giving out money or creating new programs, increasing welfare recipients will not solve this problem. Free money will may help a person buy one meal but same time that will ruin his or her pride and worth in the society. Instead of money we can provide a person a means to make money and give ideas how to get out of the condition they are in at that time. The famous saying instead of giving a fish teach them how to fish. This country have been experimenting with all kinds of programs since the great depression and we are still a nation with so many poor people. Time has come to look for other creative ways to tackle this issue. We need honest people who will work and talk with an open mind without selfish ideas.

This is what all including the poor must understand everyone on this earth is selfish including the poor, wealthy, religious and so on, they will try to protect their means of income, interest and family first then only they think about others. We must talk about any program or any system with the understanding of the fact “We Are Selfish” and that is in our DNA and no one can change. Let us create a system using that fact in mind. We need an open minded discussion without any political correctness and fear of ridicule, accusations and counter punches. We need an honest media interested in stating the fact without prejudice. Liberalism, conservatism these are words means very little for a society ravaged with poverty and crime. You simply can’t tell people these are all your fault or we know you are persecuted by the rich.

First of all eliminating poverty 100% an impossible task as long as we respect freedom of people in all aspects of their life. We can’t force someone to change their life style as a solution to get out of poverty. A society can only help a person if that person willing to accept that help with conditions. An economic revolution will not end poverty but what we need to do though, find honest solutions within the system we have today and living in it.

It is not because we have not identified reasons. Famous sociologists and economists around the world have identified reasons why and how people become poor. These are the reasons I have found in most studies done by others. 1. Single family. 2. Lack of employment. 3. Lack of Education 4.Low wages. 5. Getting sick. 6. Substance abuse. 7. Crime, there are more reasons but I am only listing these, I thought important for my essay. If everyone willing to tackle these issues with an open mind, without prejudice and political and financial motives we can find good solutions.

Single Family: Not a secret that two income better than one. Can we legislate that people can have children only if they stay married always? Can we prohibit out of wedlock children? How do we handle this problem? In a broken family not only parents but children are also victims. Children raised in a single family in so many cases, are in a higher risk to adapt all kinds of anti-social elements we see in the society. There are some exceptions to this. First, if a single family get additional help from other extended family members. Second, reluctantly I would say some religions are helpful too. For so many a path to poverty is paved right from the childhood. This is where the personal responsibility comes in. Married people with young children, before decide a divorce for whatever reason, think twice how that painful decision will affect the overall financial and mental health of all people involved in it especially children. Try to give selfish motives a back seat.

Lack of employment: A genuine issue again, 100% employment impossible task but bringing down unemployment is workable. Government cannot provide meaningful employment to people. We need private sector to do this. Private sector will only invest money if they can make a profit. First condition any investor look in a city before putting any money the crime rate and the infra structure. This is the responsibility of a local government create an atmosphere attractive to business. This is where the balancing act needed. Business can play a big role here. No one is against corporations making profit. But what they must do reinvest the profit in the community and give adequate wages to employees. In so many cases corporations are more interested in their stock values and how much compensations executives will get each year. This must change. A creative tax structure will influence corporations behave responsibly.

Lack of Education: We must ask the question are schools primarily for students or educators? First of all parents must take interest in the education of their children. Do not think sending them every day to school and buying school supplies will end the responsibility? So many parents are busy with their jobs and no time to give for their children’s education especially in one parent families. There is no easy answer to this problem. Several schools are experimenting with mentor programs to help these children.

We see very often, in poverty and crime driven inner city schools, high dropout rates and less motivated teachers. One solution to this problem would be school choice. There are chartered schools like Yep, Kipp and Yes,  are running schools in several cities and so many children come to these schools are from disadvantaged families. These schools are funded by tax payers and donations. Chartered schools are less expensive to operate and doing a fantastic job. Schools must not become places for social experiments and politics. Educating children making them capable of functioning in a society with a productive life that must and only the purpose of a school.

Low Wages: Like I mentioned above we need private sector to create jobs. This is where employers can work together with employees for the betterment of both, without any friction. Employers must understand their profit is created from the sweat of workers. If a business making money they should share a good portion from that with all employees. When bonuses given out, do not forget those secretaries and mail room clerks. This will only benefit them in the long run. Employees will work hard will be loyal to the employer. I do not favor playing with the minimum wage issues. Once we increase wages by law, businesses will look into circumvent that. Not only that if employers may raise price for products to take care of increased wages then no effect for employees in getting few more dollars in their pocket.  Employers must understand that a happy employee is more valuable than few more dollars in the bank.

Getting Sick: No one want get sick but this is not an option. People will get sick some time in different magnitude and times. In a society like ours sickness must not be a financial burden on people. We are all responsible for creating so many new illness with pollution and heavily processed food products. We must have a universal health care plan. For a viable universal health plan all parties must work together. Hospitals, doctors, drug makers and other health care providers. We need to bring the cost of health care down. If health care providers can sacrifice little bit in their income then government will be able to pay for the universal health care plan with a reasonable tax revenue. Same time, patients also must be responsible and understanding, there is a limit to how far hospitals and doctors could go to save your life or prolong.  Doctors are not Gods sometimes they will make mistakes and try to understand that. The fear of uncontrolled malpractice law suits must be eliminated.

Substance Abuse: Is this a health problem or a crime issue? Most everybody got an answer to this. In reality, mind altering substances are as old as our existence. What is happening today the variety and names has changed. In olden times people used to take drugs like opium and other kinds of drinks in a controlled quantity for better health. Since our country started the war (on) against drugs that became a cash cow for so many dealers and our prison population got much bigger. First we must take out the criminality in substance abuse. Second, educate people from very early ages about the harmful effects of drugs. Once we solve so many issues I stated above this drug abuse will also come down automatically as a side benefit.

Crime: We see more crime in poor communities than the rich. Did crime came first or fallowed when poverty took hold of a city. Let us look what happened to Detroit? Crime destroyed this city and pushed so many in to poverty. Race relations played a major role in ruining this city. Community and political leaders from both sides behaved recklessly.

 In the 1940s and 50s this city was a thriving one with three giant auto makers and other businesses. No one thought a race relation will play adversely in a progressive northern city like Detroit. In the 1940s the population of this city was about 90% white and 7% black the rest other races. This started to change very fast. White population started to shrink and the black population grew. May be the automobile revolution and creation of more roads and high ways contributed to this shift. So many white people with money moved to suburbs for more room and newer homes.

 In 1960 the black population was 27% then there was a riot in 1967 that devastated the city so much. After the riot politicians and community leaders wasted their time in accusing each other rather than rebuilding the city. This sped up the plight of whites from the city in a faster rate not only that so many businesses also left the city. Today the black population in Detroit is more than 90%. A city declared bankrupt in 2013. Most of the law enforcement issues in major cities started from this riot. Tension between blacks especially teens and police grew. For so many selling drugs became easy money. Police started cracking down drug dealers and users and that created so many black people with criminal records. Made these people disadvantaged in the eyes of an employer. We simply can’t blame the police for all this tension in most cases they are doing their job given to them.

 If whites and blacks come together to remake this city into a habitable place for all, as a model city, we can solve all race issues in this country. There is a need and there is no honest leader in both side of the aisle today to discuss and find a lasting solution. This will be the challenge to whoever win the President election are you willing to encourage political and community leaders to sit down together and engage in discussions without blaming each other and find lasting solutions. The media must give up reporting stories with other movies other than a news value.

There may be other issues out there contributing to the issue of poverty. What we are doing now accuse each other for problems. That is politics. We are all responsible for the condition we are in today. Stop blaming the past and people lived in the past. They are gone and conditions are changed.  In a sinking ship no use of blaming water. Let us think about today and what we must do. What we need to do, all come together with an open mind willing to discuss, hear and understand each other. Think the problem in other person’s shoe. Everyone got a selfish motive and if we all can accept and understand that weakness in all, then we can work together and solve issues.

B. John Kunthara