The USA had several ups and downs during their history. Huge economic catastrophes like the Great Depression in 1929 or the Crisis of 2008 increased levels of poverty. The situation stabilized a little during last years, but still does not look too good. The story of Sue Christian described in the Monica Potts's essay support this opinion. The author wrote about the wife and mother of two children from the Owsley County – one of the poorest counties in the USA. Sue lost her job in the data entry company and went through hard times when she decided to get an educational degree to get a new job. All family members tried to do their best, but Mrs. Christian was the main source of income, and her temporary unemployment damaged family’s budget. These people did not always live below the poverty line, but were close to it. Sue thought she should leave college and find the same job, but she did not do it and finished her education. The essay ends up with the contradictory message. Sue got her first salary job that would give her an opportunity to pay all bills and have small surpluses. However, she could not be sure in the new stability even if officials assured that “the grant would last five years” (Potts). There were same words about Sue’s previous workplace, and it closed after only 1.5 years.
The essay gives readers an opportunity to look inside the problem of poverty in America. The situation of Christian family showed that is not the problem of the minority. Sue was born and lived in the Owsley County that had “the distinction of being the poorest county in the United States with a majority-white population” (Potts). However, other works show there are strong links between the race and poverty levels. According to statistics from the Kaufmann’s article, from all needy American children 39.6% are African-Americans and about 34% are Latino. The essay written by Sarah Burd-Sharps and Kristen Lewis also highlights racial inequality in poverty. It says young African-Americans are less likely to become business owners because “typical white household has twenty times the median wealth of the typical black household” (Burd-Sharps and Lewis). While the fist work shows the poverty is an interracial problem, the second adjusts that minorities still have worse situation.
Potts’s work shows there are whole poor communities in the country, and their inhabitants does not always guilty in their conditions. The county was described as a place inappropriate for the development of the agricultural sphere because of soil’s quality. Absence of good roads makes it impossible to develop transport connection and open doors for huge trucks. Big corporations treat such communities as an inner source of cheap labor power and do not help to fight with poverty with their low wages. Potts mentioned that social programs were main means of support for many families in the Owsley County. However, these campaigns only helped people to survive, but did not give opportunity for development. “Most people who are poor work as much as they can and go in and out of poverty” (Edelman) – that is the direct description of Christian’s situation. But such people are not able to afford themselves many allurements of the big city even in their forefront. Christians were shocked by New York’s prices when they went to see the parade. “Their first advice to others when they got back to Booneville was ‘Don’t go—stay home and watch it on TV’” (Potts). Potts described a common situation when visually successful person from a small town comes into a big city and understands how poor he or she is. Poverty exists in big cities too, but people from rural areas often visit popular and prestige districts where the contrast is most noticeable.
This and other similar essays create a contradictory impression. Christians have own house, car, small business and different gadgets like Xbox. It does not look like poverty for people from developing or semi-developing countries. There is another example in the story about Victoria Houser. A 22-year-old single mother of a 2-year-old boy earns $10 per hour in the cafeteria. However, “she lives in a cozy two-bedroom apartment” (Fessler). The woman has flat TV, computer and iPad. However, she lives on the edge and a small financial problem like a car failure can throw her into a financial abyss. These works show Americans do not want to abandon pretty things even at the face of poverty. Sue’s husband J. C. did not stop to play in the Xbox game Black Ops with paid content even when the family had difficult financial situation. Victoria Houser mentioned she “he has a car to get to work, a computer to take online college courses, a cellphone to check up on her son” (Fessler). It looks like people do not want to look for cheaper alternatives even if they really need them. They does not have choice sometimes, like in case when there are no developed public transit system and car is an only possibility to get to the point of destination. But there are opportunities to cut expenses on the Internet and other digital services. The main problem of this sphere is that they took the payment automatically so the owner does not feel it until the information about a bank account comes. Apple’s devices attach themselves to the credit card, but other brands can have tablets without this pending feature. Potts’s essay also showed people make irrational actions in attempt to get rid of poverty. “All four family members had gotten cell phones, and it cost them more to cancel their plans than it did to keep paying them for the rest of the contract” (Potts). There could be more examples when people spend more in attempts to cut expenses.
Experts show there is a complex situation with poverty in the USA. Economical crisis, development of outsourcing led to unemployment and cut in salaries. Taxes and other expenses make people worry how they will pay bills and make both ends meet. “Most people who are poor work as much as they can and go in and out of poverty” (Edelman), but they still can not move to higher classes. While the economic situation is the main cause of this problem, people’s behavior plays its role too. Christian’s story showed some persons do not want to change their environment. Owsley County was a so-called center of poverty, and it was impossible for one man or family to change the situation. However, sue did not want to leave it and preferred her children to stay too. Woman’s attitude can be explained by her previous experience in Florida, where she felt herself conquered and miserable, because the surrounding was too different from her customary rural area. Sue also did not like the idea that her daughter will go to the Morehead State University – “it was liberal and the kind of place where Ciara would forget who she was” (Potts0. The mother was against her dreams about the broadcasting career. The woman was led by benevolent intentions – she wanted to keep her daughter from the dangerous world and help her to save her identity. However, these wishes could reflect one of the reasons of poverty’s development – parents do not give children an opportunity to use their chance to implement own abilities. The proverb “be of use and carry your business on in the country where you were born” as a main life motto makes it difficult to improve the situation, if there are no campaigns focused on area’s economical and industrial development.
Works Cited
Burd-Sharps, Sarah, and Lewis Kristen. Oxfamamerica.org. 9 July 2013. Web. 6 Apr. 2016.
Edelman, Peter. “The State of Poverty in America”. Prospect.org. 22 June 2012. 6 Apr. 2016.
Fessler, Pam. “The Changing Picture Of Poverty: Hard Work Is 'Just Not Enough'”. Npr.org. 7 May 2014. web. 6 Apr. 2016.
Kaufmann, Greg. “By the Numbers: US Poverty”. Billmoyers.com. 29 May 2013. Web. 6 Apr. 2016.
Potts, Monica. “Pressing On the Upward Way”. Prospect.org. 12 June 2012. web. 6 Apr. 2016.
