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Dakota Turk
Comp II TR 10:30
Mrs. Watkins
12, April 2016
Alleviating Poverty
Throughout the world, day to day, people struggle economically and financially. Some
people say it is just a part of life and things will get better, but unfortunately situations dont
always get better for a number of people. Poverty is a problem here in the states and throughout
the world. With certain budget cuts and proper technique, poverty in our country can be reduced
and be positively affected worldwide. According to ESchoolToday, Poverty will never be fully
eradicated while it is largely caused by human factors but the cycle can be broken by evoking
education, health, food and water, provisions of skills and training, and income redistribution.
On the subject of income redistribution, one object that has always boggled my mind
when I think of poverty and ways to end this problem is the money we so sparingly pay
entertainers. By entertainers I mean actors, actresses, athletes, singers and overall famous people.
What have they done so significantly besides looking attractive and being athletic that makes
them deserve the millions of dollars that they bring in every year? In 2013, the payroll of the
New York Yankees alone was over 230 million dollars while 1.2 Billion people live on less than
one U.S. dollar a day. (Kimani, David). In Rama Charan Tripathis article Poverty Alleviation,
it states that Roughly 56% of the worlds population (approx. 2.8 billion) lives on less than $2 a
day. The 2015 payroll total of the MLB is just shy of four billion dollars. Im sure the totals in
the NFL and NBA arent far behind or perhaps even more. Tell me where that makes sense. Its

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bothersome knowing the salaries of these organizations and people while hearing how much our
country is in debt, how much our teachers get paid, and knowing how many people live
impoverished. America and the rest of the world need to take a step back and get their priorities
in line. People shouldnt be dying of hunger and illness while ballplayers drives around in their
expensive cars and live in multi-million dollar mansions while millions of people dont even
have a roof to sleep under. If we redistribute that money alone, not to mention all the money we
give to actors and actresses and to families like the Kardashians for lord knows what reason, we
can make a major dent in poverty and be one step closer to living as one society, full of equals.
While income redistribution is a vital role in poverty reduction, education and health can
also be a key to alleviating this issue. With a portion of the money the world saves from the
redistribution of the payroll of entertainers, we would be able to build schools and institutes to
help people learn to read and write. We may also be able to build hospitals and doctors offices
that can cure diseases and keep them from spreading. Over 11 million children die from
preventable causes before their fifth birthday (Kimani, David). We may also be allowed to build
facilities and kitchens to aid in the everlasting fight against hunger. Every year 6 million
children younger than 5 years of age die as a result of hunger (ScienceDirect). These bridges
can be crossed. There are programs to help these issues but they are run by severely ill funded
organizations. By just building a couple buildings and furnishing them with a well trained staff
and allowing volunteer work, we can save millions of lives every year by just supplying the
things we use every day and take for granted, such as water, food, and medicine. With just a little
bit of sacrifice, we can help so many other human beings and bring the standard of living for a
large amount of people above the lifestyle of being impoverished.

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Education, health, and income redistribution are all vital keys to alleviating poverty on
American soil and also worldwide, but one thing that I believe gets left out when talking about
poverty, especially on American soil, is laziness. America is full of lazy people that want
everything to just be handed to them in life and feel sorry for themselves when they get
considered impoverished. Granted, no family can live easily off a yearly salary of less than
$20,000 a year but they are the ones limiting themselves to that salary. Poverty in America can
be almost vanquished if people would just get off their butts, quit expecting things to be handed
to them, and put in a days worth of honest hard work. This idea doesnt apply to every situation
but Im sure it equates to virtually 60% of the people living impoverished in America. We live in
a day and age that people think that without a college degree, success is out the window. People
are scared of a blue collar lifestyle and getting their hands dirty and working a little more than
eight hours a day. People need to realize that there are jobs out there to be had, it may just require
a little effort on their part to find these jobs and get themselves hired.
Another way societies can get a hold on Poverty is through strategic planning. Strategic
planning (or action planning) method is one way cities can proceed in the development of
poverty reduction strategies (TheWorldBank). These strategies can include the government
providing better public transportation, providing ways for people to be self-sustainable by
growing their own food, or even by providing women with birth control. By providing better
ways of public transportation, cities can help their people who dont have enough money for cars
or taxis find ways to work or any other place they need to go. If more people have options or
ways of getting to a job, maybe more people can rule out not getting a job because they have no
mode of transportation. By providing ways for people to be self-sustainable by growing their
own food, they save money by not having to buy as many groceries and even make them

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healthier by making people eat out less. Also, by providing birth control to more women who
may not have been able to afford it before, we can cut out unnecessary or unwanted pregnancies.
That alone can save a lot of money for families who cannot afford children or may not want
children. By doing this, it would also cut out the rate at which children are given up for adoption
or orphaned by their parents. By taking simple steps like these, impoverished people or families
can save money and start living better lifestyles.
Although poverty is mainly a physical problem, I believe it also has a lot to do with the
mentality of the people. Some people, mostly Americans, let poverty get to their head and they
begin to feel sorry for themselves and may often lead to depression. When Americans think
about being rich, they associate that with lots of money, fancy cars, big ole houses, and being a
superior member of the famed upper class. If you were to ask impoverished Africans their
definition of being rich, they may surprise you with answers of family, love, a roof over their
head, or never having to worry about where their next meal comes from. Their ideas of being
rich may explain the lifestyles of some Americans who consider themselves impoverished. All
they want and dream about is having the basic necessities while Americans dream about fast cars
and big houses. With that being said, I believe that mentality has a lot to do with your
economical and financial situations.
The road to ending poverty has been a very long one and may seem to be everlasting, but
with small, disciplined steps, together the world can reach a level of economic equality. It has
been a problem as long as the world has held human life and may end up being a problem for the
rest of the existence of the human race. By evoking such things as education, health, food and
water, provisions of skills and training, and income redistribution, we can begin to make the
world a better place to live by ending the war against poverty.