Understanding the plight of the poor.

• Author: Akande, Benjamin Ola.

Despite the stereotypes, they are not necessarily lazy and unwilling to work, or content to subsist on welfare.

POVERTY is a state we continue to treat as an abstract social issue that eventually will go away. The Federal government frequently has looked the other way. The old policies and many of the new proposals that are being paraded are unrealistic and fail to grasp the magnitude of the situation. The visible result of this non-action has been the growth of a new type of subculture in the world's richest nation--the working poor.

The glaring reality is that, by not doing enough to address the poverty issue, the U.S. is at risk of creating a permanent bifurcated society, one whose tensions and difficulties could narrow the scope of national aspirations and even limit some of the freedoms--economic, social, and political--we long have enjoyed. Nevertheless, there are viable economic and social alternative policies that could help improve the situation.

In spite of the largest peacetime economic explosion in history, poverty stands as the nation's most conspicuous failure. It has become the most pervasive socioeconomic problem in American society, transcending racial differences and geographical locations.

In America, the rich are truly rich and the poor are hopelessly poor. The lower class is growing at such an alarming rate that it threatens the U.S.'s economic survival.

The new Republican leadership's response to the plight of the poor in their Contract With America would prohibit children of unwed mothers under the age of 18 from obtaining public assistance for the remainder of their childhood as long as the mother remained unmarried. Moreover, it would prevent welfare recipients and their children from receiving benefits for a period exceeding five years. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has called for the institutionalization of low-income children. Major Federal welfare programs, including Aid to Families with Dependent Children and food stamps, are to be converted into block grants for states. It is expected that this will remove their entitlement status and allow states to cut off benefits when the money is used up. The missing point here is the human factor. What happens to the children and their mothers when the funds run out?

The U.S. Department of Labor has defined the poverty threshold as a family of four with an income of $12,000 or less. More than 30,000,000 Americans fall into this category-13.5% of the population...