Rank Chapter 8, Future Discussions

       In Chapter 8 of One Nation Underprivileged by Robert Rank, he discusses several strategies that would ultimately help eliminate poverty. One of the first strategies he discusses is the creation of adequately paying jobs. Some of the key features of this strategy are raising wages of currently existing jobs, raising and indexing minimum wage and implementing earned income tax credit. Currently in the United States, minimum wages of basic jobs do not typically meet the requirements necessary to be above the poverty line. Often, multiple jobs and or low income alternatives to housing and cost of living are required to get by. Low wages are based on corporate policies to capitalize and make profit. The result is a greater stratification in the distribution of wealth nation-wide. By raising wages, corporations would have to reduce profit margins (though profits would still be relatively high) to create a balance for the lowest workers of that organization. Low paying jobs also lead to increased poverty. When an individual struggles to meet the cost of living, they incur debt, which, in the United States, tends to increase at an exponential rate. Debt usually results in borrowing which ultimately leads to more debt until more poverty is created.
       Raising the minimum wage would force other wages up as well, better equipping middle class workers with the resources necessary to sustain day to day life. Rank describes using earned income tax as beneficial to lower income workers. The EITC like raising minimum wages and other existing wages would damge high profit margins for large companies. However, equalizing pay would greatly reduce poverty levels and only mean that the wealthy would only make several hundred million in profits as opposed to breaking a billion.
       I feel that this strategy is the first key step in eliminating poverty as it equalizes the playing field for the most important resource in today's society: money. Greater access to money would create better living conditions, better health care, better education, increased value of housing in poorer neighborhoods and generally just more access to other resources that would increase living conditions. For those who do not strive to gain a high level of education or a prestigious career, it would at least provide them with the financial resources they would need to sustain a normal life through a regular job. Increasing wages and better paying jobs is ultimately one of the most important factors in eliminating poverty across the nation.