Poverty in the United States today is an unrecognized social predicament that exists everywhere from the nation's largest cities to the rural back country and also around the world. "Poverty is no disgrace but it is damned annoying. In the contemporary United States it is not annoying but it is a disgrace" (Galbraith 257). John Kenneth Galbraith was a professor of economics at Harvard University. Galbraith wrote about ongoing issues in today's society; in his book the Affluent Society. This essay points out his ideas on how society can break the cycle of poverty. His involvement with politics seems to contrast with his personal views on social issues. Galbraith has been criticized for overriding complex concepts that an amateur could comprehend. According to Galbraith, the only way for society to break the problem cycle of poverty is to help the people to be able to help themselves. Galbraith examines that in order for society to do this act, they need to dedicate their time and energy to the children from families afflicted with the misfortune of poverty. He also proposed that the sequence of poverty can be broken if society will provide the smallest amount of income that would be essential for decency and well-being for the poor, first rate schools for the children, and adequate housing for the poverty stricken families.
             Particularly, Galbraith assumed that a compassionate and prosperous society would, undoubtedly give the lowest amount of income needed to secure decency and comfort. He states, "The corrupting effect on the human spirit of unearned revenue has unquestionably been exaggerated as, indeed, have the character-building values of hunger and privation" (Galbraith 254). To make certain that the misfortunes of the parents are not carried through to the children a secure minimum income must be given to these families. Most of the adverse reactions toward giving this income to the poverty-stricken families c...