Poverty

When I saw the budget calculations through the EPI and the poverty line I was truly humbled. Coming from a family of 6 in a town such as the one that I grew up in I never really understood how easy I really had it. This lesson comes at an interesting time in my life because in the past couple of weeks I have been in tears just about every other day over money because my parents are trying to teach me about financial responsibility and are making sure that they are giving me complete financial freedom by making me pay for everything food, gas, clothes, and part of my other bills. This has been a particularly tough year to learn this due to the current economic status of the country. With all of that being said I am still dependent on my parents for most things and they do claim me as so, therefore I used the budget calculations for a family of 4 kids with 2 parents. I am still at a shock and cannot imagine if my family was in actuality impoverished.
According to the HHS poverty guidelines my family would have to live off of $548.00 per week. Obviously our standard of living would have to go down significantly. I was embarrassed when I saw this calculation because I realized how selfish I have been in the past with my parents. I had the nerve to complain to my parents about the fact that when I graduated from high school my car was two years old.... obviously if I lived on this budget my family would probably not have a car, let alone one that is two years old. I can hardly imagine how my family would afford to eat under those financial constraints and it gives me a whole lot of respect for those that work hard for their family. Seeing these calculations and the video today in class also really angered me. This summer I got into a heated debate with my brother over government programming. He thinks that people that are in these situations have brought it on themselves and that it isn't the governments problem to deal with them... I am under the impression that the government needs to help these people. If a family is in this much financial turmoil I am sure that they aren't just sitting back waiting for the government check to come, because frankly that government check will come, but it won't make them rich and no one WANTS to be impoverished. I highly doubt that there is someone out there that wants to be poor.
When I took a look at the EPI calculator I was still humbled. It put a family with 2 parents and 3 children (because they didn't have a four child option) at a grand total of roughly $1,148 per week. It finally hit me when I realized that my rent for two months this summer was the equivalence of two weeks for an entire family. I don't think that me or anyone in my family could live comfortably on this budget at all. Gas alone for the 6 cars that we have would probably kill us. We would definitely have to make some changes and really get in touch with reality. It would be interesting if my family would try it out for just one week on this budget. That would mean that my parents would have to distribute $191 to every person in my family and tell them to survive with nothing more for a whole week including rent.
As I said earlier it gave me severe respect and sympathy for the families and persons shown in the video today it particularly gave me respect for the family with the girl who has cancer. It really broke my heart when it said that over 18,000 people a year die because they don't have health insurance. I know that these people are working and the cards have just been poorly dealt to them. They are trying as hard as they can to get out of their situation but they can't. But the video really changed my perspective on my education and it really makes me value it a whole lot more because it really is the only way that I can have the opportunity to make sure that I don't become like those people. Because in almost all of those situations their way out was a higher level of education.
I really don't know what I would say to the future president about this issue. I wish that college could be free to everyone and I wish that everyone could be brought up in the environment that I did, one that set me up for a life of success. However, I know that that is not possible. So, the only solution is government programs and the situation will only get harder with the current financial situation the economy is in. I would though, tell him to recalculate the poverty rates, and make at least something available to those who really do need it.