Social Service and WelfarePoverty08/15/2016Kerstin RiseAbstractPoverty RumorsDefinition of PovertyPoor AmericaPolitical FactorsAvailable ProgramsLegislation and LawEconomic FactorsPoverty is one of the oldest problems facing this country. Many people are affected by poverty. What makes this so controversial is that nothing seems to have changed over time. Regardless of available programs, we continue to fight poverty and economic crisis, and things ahead don't look any better. The definition of poverty is that family income is inadequate when judged by a particular standard. To better understand, however, we must first consider what a family consists of. Is it just blood relatives, such as parents and children, or do we also count older family members? How about roommates or foster children living in the same household? Income must also be defined by what counts as household income. Is it just the earnings from a job or do we rely on monetary donations from employers and the government? Can the barter of goods or services in exchange for food or money also be considered income? These are all questions we need to define. The United States government has developed two definitions of how people are viewed as poor and impoverished. The first term used is called “relative poverty”. The government says that once family size changes, the bottom third, quarter or fifth are made up of poor people. Market basket is the second concept used to measure poverty. Molly Olshansky came up with the idea by calculating the cost of a minimal nutritional diet based on family size. He concluded that one third should be spent on food, and the other two thirds should… mid-paper… fortunately though after all we are still not able to extinguish the problem. Now more than ever, due to terrorism and unrest in the country, we must work to find better solutions and get the economy back on its feet to get rid of the inequalities we are dealing with right now. they still struggle with poverty and although better programs are available, the stigma of poverty causes great concern among those affected by the situation. We must work to get our economy back on track and establish working conditions that allow people to provide for their families. We must also establish a better healthcare system to help people with mental illness get the help they need to escape poverty and homelessness, and we must also provide better education for our young people to have a chance to thrive and break free from poverty..