proverty Essays - Aid, Humanitarian Aid, Poverty, John Isbister

Poverty, the condition of not having or not being able to afford the basic needs, is a circumstance many strive to avoid. Despite the effort to keep this from happening, it is one that continues to persist. Over the last few years, the United States of America, in particular, has experienced one of its most dynamic periods of poverty as a result of its recession. Although economically there may seem improvement, poverty still remains an ongoing problem. But while the United States has a good percentage of citizens in poverty, it barely compares to third world countries that face a tremendous percentage of poverty. There are many reasons as to why poverty persists. Family structure is one factor as to why it does. Most households headed by two parents escape poverty. On the other hand, households headed only by a single parent are found to be experiencing hardships. Factors contributing to the struggle in single headed households are unemployment, lower wages, and the trouble of finding available jobs. Being able to provide for a family with only one flowing source of income is a task that is very difficult to take on, especially while inflation exists. In ?Promises Not Kept?, John Isbister gives three views (moderzationists, Marxists, and dependency theorists) as to why poverty continues to worsen. Of the three views, moderzationists blame government policy to the cause of poverty. They argue that there is too much policy, where the government tries to regulate and govern a country in far too much detail. In example, the Philippines remain as a country in poverty because of the wrong development strategies taken place in protecting markets for local industries and neglecting export industries. Instead of taking back and letting the free market take over, moderzationists, all in all, believe