In an international poll conducted by international news organization France 24, 85% of Americans believe that the most important issue to them and their votes is the US economy and the current financial crisis. As proven by this poll as well as other national trends, news outlets across most of the national TV networks as well as many web sources have focused almost exclusively on economic reports. Therefore, it seemed appropriate to delve into another matter which most people are probably unfamiliar with and uninformed. The topic up for debate is each candidate’s stance on poverty and other similar issues which affect the Americans at the bottom of the tax bracket, those relatively poor families which were struggling even before the current economic crisis.
Recently, America has been experiencing a new economic recession. It is believed that starting in October 28 million people will be using food stamps, which is a jump from the 26.5 million Americans that were using them in 2007. Fear and hunger walk hand in hand with poverty, and last year 12.6 million American households -- 11.2 percent of all American homes -- were afraid they might not be able to put enough food on the table, according to the Census Bureau. That's up more than 1.6 million households from the year 2000. Presidential candidate Barack Obama plans to deal with this poverty crisis several ways. One is by investing 1 billion dollars in transitional jobs and career pathway programs that implement proven methods of helping low-income Americans succeed in the workforce. Another way Obama is working towards reducing poverty is by raising the minimum wage to $9.50. The question is, will Obama actually carry out these plans and will they benefit our country? When the minimum wage rose to $7.25, poverty remained the same. By giving poor people more money, that doesn’t necessarily mean the money will be saved or spent wisely. There are currently 37 million poor Americans so it is essential to have a strong poverty plan in the future.
John McCain expresses his discontent with the way gasoline and food costs are hurting these Americans and promises to do several things to help aid out these families. He shows on his campaign website that he wishes to institute numerous policies, the first being a summer gas tax holiday, which would end up being a suspension of the 18.4 cent federal gas tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day, as well as a rolling back of corn-based ethanol mandates which he believes will help drive back down the rising food prices. Both these plans involve simply laid out programs, but one can question the practicality of some of his other listed programs. His website mentions that by sending a powerful message to world markets that our dependence on foreign oil shall come to an end soon will drive down prices at our local pumps. He also mentions that “John McCain's policies will increase the value of the dollar and thus reduce the price of oil” meaning that Americans will have a greater purchasing power for oil, gas, and food. What this website fails to mention is how John McCain’s, let alone any president’s policies, will help jumpstart our economy to the point where world markets will “bow down” to the American dollar once again. When a candidate makes a claim such as this, voters should be warned to remember that the office of President is considered the “Executive” part of the government. Every president will have to work, serve, and compromise with Congress, and all signs point to a heavily democratic congress which would put McCain’s republican policies at great jeopardy.
There are many demanding social issues in today’s world that can be attributed with poverty; reversing the spread of HIV and AIDS, reversing the spread of tuberculosis, improving child and maternal health, and achieving universal primary education are all issues that many will find hard-pressed to refute as inconsequential. While at first glance McCain’s views pertaining to the previously mentioned issues appear substantial, when compared to Obama’s plans they seem sparse; his answers lack details, direct values and actuality. If these international issues are important to you as a voter, can you fully accept his answers?
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The Valley of Fear (9780141395562)
4 years ago
1 comments:
I would agree that poverty is a huge problem and I think it poses serious issues to our nation. The fact is that it all starts with our countries education. Everyone has the opprotunity to be educated in our nation through public schooling and it is a disgrace when kids don't take advangage of their opprotunity to learn and go on to higher levels of education. In our world today the work force is very competitive and those who don't take advantage of this will inevitably not be in the running for jobs. This casues problems when there are so many people unable to work, thus unable to feed themselves and finding themselves impoverished. This then begins a cyclical relationship between poverty and health in that poor health may create and perpetuate poverty and poverty may lead to poor health. If people cannot pay for their own food they obviously cannot pay for their own healthcare thus making them more unavailable to do work and draw in an income. In the end this ultimatley hurts our economy when people don't have jobs and don't spend money. Poverty is an issue that can be avoided and that is what the annoying part is. It begins at a young age and we need to do something about education first and then it won't be as much of a problem.
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