Session 5: Globalization and World Poverty

Continuing to read chapter 4, I learned how the U.S.' poverty rate differs from other countries around the World. Of course, it was among the richest countries, along side many Western European countries, and the poverty rate here was significantly lower than those of developing countries such as South Africa and South Asia. Standards for poverty in developing countries are quite different, because the poorest U.S. citizen would not be considered poor in say Latin America or South Asia. What I found to be very interesting; however, was that when compared to the other richer, developed and industrialized countries, The United States poverty rate was clearly higher. How is this possible? Well, there seems to be some paradoxically factor when it comes to the U.S. Susan Mayer claims that "the U.S. safety net is weaker" (63 Iceland Poverty). That can be proven because while other richer countries such as Canada have free health care and spend a lot more money on public goods, benefits and services, the U.S. does not. It is in this that you could find one aspect of why the poverty rate in the U.S. is lower, since poverty is the lack of the essentials to survive, and health care is an essential to survive, yet many Americans do not have health care because it is either too expensive or to hard to obtain. Another reason why is because there is vast income inequality in America, so while the rich seem to be very rich, the poor are extremely poor. Therein lies the paradox of the U.S.' poverty read. But the fact that there is such an inequality in incomes and a lack of spending on public goods is part of Why I believe people are poor in the U.S. It is this, amongst other things that I have discussed in my previous blog, and what I plan to discuss in my upcoming blogs.