Almost all of us are at a risk for poverty. As a result, every one of us has a personal interest in and an obligation to reduce poverty in the United States (Rank, 2011). So, while characteristics such as a lack of skills or knowledge, or being in a single mother, help to clarify who is at a higher risk of experiencing poverty, the fact that poverty exists in the first place is due to a failure of the economic and political structures to provide enough decent opportunities and supports for the entire society (Rank, 2011).