In the United States, poverty is usually thought of as severe economic deprivation that prevents people from living with dignity. Despite decades of effort and billions of dollars, poverty in the United States continues unabated. Recent research suggests that poverty is a kind of proxy, or stand-in, for the:

inability of the government to develop successful programs to halt poverty.

failure of the tax code to fairly levy taxes on income.

underlying social disease of inequality and economic segregation.

failure of a capitalist market to provide food supply points in poor areas.

underlying social disease of inequality and social segregation

Explanation:

Inability of the government etc. : if successfull programs by governments really existed to halt poverty there would be no poverty. Governments themselves are part of the problem.

Failure of the tax code etc. : whether it exists or not, the effect is trivial.

Failure of a capitalist market etc. : food supply points don´t solve the problem; they only mitigate it temporary.

In short, the basic problem is that the powerful elite will always try to maximalize profits and by doing so, making the economic gap wider. Furthermore, governments have less and multinational corporations more power.