The United States department of agriculture’s economic research service defines an individual as poor if his or her income is not enough to purchase the basic necessities that are food, shelter, clothing, and other essential goods and services. There are several myths associated with people living in poverty in America. Some of these myths are;
Most people are poor because they do not want to work. This myth is misleading in that most of the poor people are employed and work for more hours full time throughout the year than the well-paid employees. The other group of the poor comprises children, the elderly group, and the disabled; this category of people cannot work.
Most of the poor are single mothers and their children. This is not true because there are as well many poor families with both couples and some single mothers are well off.
Most poor people are African American. This is a myth that looks at racial discrimination in America with the blacks being oppressed, as was revealed during Hurricane Katrina. However, there are also Americans living below the poverty line.
Poverty rates are particularly low in the Midwest compared to other regions. Poverty is hidden in some regions but does not mean that there are areas with high poverty levels than others though they differ significantly.
The wealthier benefit from these myths in that they exploit the poor by employing them in their firms and paying them very meagre pay as they make big profits because they know that they are ready to work anywhere.
The wealthier, who are the capitalists, take advantage of these myths as they know who to employ in which department, how much to pay them because there is always a reserved army of the poor laborers.