Poverty is a common social problem that has plagued the United States for countless years. Poverty is considered deprivation. It is when we are deprived of the things we need to function properly in society. Education, food and shelter are things that individuals struggling with poverty lack. Poverty is subjective because everyone can differ in the level of deprivation we suffer from which describes the state of poverty. Some people even want to include the possibility of going on holiday abroad as people are deprived of something that the majority until recently could do. Not surprisingly, it still exists widely and has been an ongoing problem. No matter what the general level of prosperity, there will always be millions of homeless and/or hungry individuals. Even today, there are people struggling to find shelter and feed their families. This social problem has various impacts on different people. However, there are possible solutions available to alleviate this social problem. In discussing poverty in the United States, I will use major perspectives that include the emerging condition of middle-class poverty and the causes and effects of poverty. This topic can be defined as economic inequality. For many years it was inevitable, which made poverty reduction a primary goal for many. Most of the time people think of poverty as being hungry, naked and homeless, but poverty is said to be more about being unwanted and neglected. An argument held by most Americans is that those in poverty do not work hard for what they want, however there have been many cases that prove otherwise. Others wonder why poverty still exists with all the government-subsidized programs in the world, as... middle of paper... they debate. His evidence comes from the hundreds of food banks across the country that are struggling to meet demands from various areas of the spectrum, from the homeless to the middle class (Chen, 2). I recently heard the story of a pastor who went to church and was about to preach. The pastor dressed up as a homeless man and sat in front of the church before the service. When people began to flock to the church, they did not offer help or money for food. He also received dirty and evil looks as these “devout individuals” entered the church. Later, the pastor was announced as the homeless man they had seen earlier. The pastor was still fully dressed in his costume as he walked towards the end of the stage; the church family was beyond shocked. Furthermore, this is an example of a particular reason why poverty still exists around us today.