Summary of the Article - Government and Poverty Research Paper

Summary of the Article - Government and Poverty - Research Paper Example In the scenario, the author also makes a mention of the more recent American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The author defines poverty as the dearth of the necessary resources that enable the people to meet their basic needs and extends the commensurate statistics regarding the urban, suburban and rural incidence of poverty. The author does support the extension of government aid to the deserving, while taciturnly mentioning that many people suffer from poverty because they are lazy. The writer also blames the indulgence in substance abuse like tobacco and alcohol as the reason as to why the poor remain poor. Yet, the writer again contradicts one’s assertion by saying that a great number of the poor receiving the government aid do tend to be employed. In the end, the writer conclusively asserts that the government should spend money on imparting skills and education to the poor, rather than wasting the taxpayers’ money on extending nutrition, health and housing. Overall the approach of the writer seems to be discernible against the government funding of the poverty alleviation programs. The poor tend to remain poor because they simply do not have a place in the national financial chain and many times, as said by the author, they lack the skills, education and connections to be able to fit into the national financial dynamics. Hence the government spending on the poverty alleviation programs is the most efficient way to make way for the allocation of the national wealth in favor of the impoverished segments of the society. The government has a self-interest in doing so in the sense that allowing the poverty to rise beyond a certain limit could lead to an unstable society marred by political unrest and crime (Lal & Myint 8). It is rightly said that the hungry minds are angry minds. Hence, state expenditure in poverty alleviation programs allows the government to channelize the skills, abilities and energy of poor sections of the society towards self-development and nation-building. State sponsoring of the poverty alleviation programs is not a choice but an important n ecessity and requisite. Hence, there is no scope or possibility for casting doubts on the relevance or necessity of the government spending on the poor or poverty alleviation programs. The writer himself conveyed that a majority of the poor people receiving government help does have jobs and they tend to work. Hence, the tongue in cheek assertion that the poor people are poor because they happen to be lazy is utterly nonsensical and biased. Poor people, in fact, happen to be poor because they do not have a say in the national and international policy-making procedures and frameworks, where they could chalk out the apt policies that would help them have a share in the process of wealth generation and allocation (Global Issues 1).