Poverty in Kentucky is definitely a big deal considering 26% of children in Kentucky live in poverty, according to the KET video's statistics from 2013. That means that 1 in four children live poverty. The situation of poverty in Kentucky differs from that in states that have several major cities that can be plagued by urban poverty through poverty's relation with crime, however, because there is a large appearance of poverty in the rural parts of what is mostly eastern Kentucky. .
There are several things that can be done to stop this persistent issue of poverty in Kentucky. First, even though I am more of a laissez fair capitalism form of market person, I believe that an increase in minimum wage by the state government would help the problem. Going to the article on the fast food workers that don't make enough money for food, how many of them working on minimum wage are living in Kentucky? Also, in the KET video, the idea of some people being one or two pay checks from being in poverty was brought up, so if they live on minimum wage, would that given them an increase in money security to prevent them from going under the poverty threshold should they miss a paycheck for some reason? The reason that I believe an increase in minimum wage would help, is because of the work incentives it provides. James Ziliack said that there is at least one person working in one of the sixty percent of households living in poverty. This person may only be making minimum wage that just gives his or her household just enough money to get by, so if he or she gets laid off, they may discover that they're able to get by off government programs. This is where I believe opportunity cost comes in. Working on a low minimum wage all the time to just barely get by seems worthless or pointless when you could get government aid to help you get by. However, the extra money that would be made on an increased minimum wage could lead to the person not needing as many work hours, as well as enough spending money for leisure items and activities, making having a job more attractive.
