Question

Summary Paragraph Assignment

Requirements of the Assignment:

Use Times New Roman font size 12, double-spaced for this assignment

Write a one-paragraph summary of the article, “Why it Costs so Much to be Poor in America”, published in The Washington Post on January 25, 2018. The paragraph should contain 10-15 sentences and include the following:

• A summary sentence
• The author’s full name
• The full title in quotations and capitalized correctly
• The author’s main point(s) and supporting points
• When it was written
• Where it was originally published (this is not a geographical location!)

Summary Assignment

     Have you ever wondered how much it costs to be poor in America? Well, it costs more than most people realize. Karen Wesse, a freelance writer, wrote the article, "Why it Costs so Much to be Poor in America", that was published in The Washington Post on January 25, 2018. In this article, she reveals why life is tough for low-income people in America and how much it costs low-income people to live on this land. She states that it has never been easy to be poor in America because of fines, fees, and exorbitant interest rates that make life difficult for low-income families. She explains how unfair it is to charge low-income people fees, penalties, and high-interest rates even though banks make billions of profits like Bank of America which made more than $21 billion in profits last year. Weese argues that poor peoples’ income fluctuates because their income is contingent due to the hours they work from week to week, and she acknowledges that more than 40 percent of the people that live in America state that they struggle to make it to the end of the month. The author also explains how low income people struggle without a stable income to cover unexpected costs such as car repairs and medical bills. She states that for poor people, it takes one unexpected bill to throw everything off, which causes bank overdraft fees, commonly $35 apiece. Furthermore, the author criticizes banks for pushing the larger transactions through bank accounts before smaller ones, which creates more debt for lower-income people. Wesse affirms that poor people pay more for food because some people have no other options but buying from convenience stores, and some people can’t effort memberships to places like Costco where food is cheaper. Finally, the author believes the current legal protection for poor people is inadequate and will not be able to protect them from unforeseen costs. She proposes possible solutions to help low-income people, such as temperate legal protection, a small policy change, less banking fees and fines, and lower interest rates. This author describes how much it costs to be poor in America and the difficulties that low-income people face. In conclusion, the author clarifies how low-income people, living in America, struggle.

Please write one paragraph and should contain10-15 sentences. Thank You.

Answer 1

"Why it Costs so Much to be Poor in America"

Karen Wesse

This summarizes the difficulties and challenges faced by the poor people and the people in the low income group in America. Poor people already have shortage of funds due to their less income, over and above that they have to face fines, fees and exhorbitant interest rates. Most of the poor people in America have stated that it is difficult for them to get through the month end as their salaries fluctutate according to the hours they work per week. Banks chage higher interest rate even to the lower income group even when they earn a good profit. They also have to face strained budgets when they encounter unforeseen expenses like huge medical bills and repairs. When such expensed occur they have to shell out at least $35 which is a huge sum for them. Banks push larger transactions in the priority and then the smaller transactions due to which the debts of the poor people increases more. Even affording food has become difficult in America. Low income people are forced to buy their food from super markets. Places like Costco, where food is available in a subsidized cost aslo have membership fees which is not affordable by poor people. Thus subsidize food is also out of reach. In the current scenario, legal protection does not protect the people from such unforeseen incidents. Thus, measures like temperate legal protection, small policy change, less banking fees and fines and lower interest rates will help such people manage their incomes and meet their needs.