Mommy, why are poor people poor?Follow

Something that's been churning in the head as of late, something I admittedly have done very little research on and know almost nothing about. I can think up of number of "reasons" off the top of my head, but I don't know how relevant any of them are. So why are poor people poor? Some possibilities to jump to mind, in no particular order...

1) Not fit: Your IQ is in the mid 80s, you struggled through high-school with a C-average, social skills are lacking at best, and you aren't particularly athletically gifted. There's no real place you've stood out in life that you can turn into income. Darwinism is just against you it seems.

2) Bad luck: Your dad was killed by a drunk driver in broad daylight, your family went from a comfortable upper-middle class lifestyle to a single mom raising 3 kids on a Dept. Manager's salary at Macy's. In short, **** happened to you, and it sucked.

3) Prejudice: You were born with the wrong skin color, in the wrong caste, or from the wrong region perhaps. People look at you and see "poor person" and those are the only opportunities you seem to be able to get.

4) Lazy: You're the hippie/monk-in-the-hills type. You could make more money perhaps, but you see no value in it. Life is to be enjoyed first, or you just don't feel like working today, either way you'll figure it out later. Right now it's time to do a little fishing.

5) Cyclical: You hear rags-to-riches stories and wonder how people do that. You're working hard, but not getting anywhere. Your parents were poor, their parents were poor, and so on back as far as anyone can remember.

6) Disability: A lot like #1 I suppose, but there's really a singular reason here. You have some disease/condition/disorder/etc that prevents you from living a full life, but would likely otherwise be perfectly fine.

7a) Poor Choices: Investing all of the money you were saving for college in that pyramid scheme while having unprotected sex with your high school boyfriend wasn't the most brilliant thing you ever did, and you've been paying for it ever since.

7b) Choosing Poor: You just fell in love with a poor guy, now you're poor. There's no mystery here, you feel no shame, you got what you wanted in life, and there are no regrets.

So that's what came to my head, at least that's all I can remember right now. So why do you think people are poor? Some or all of the above? Are there other big reasons I missed in that little list you'd like to add? Do you think there's some reason(s) that are more prevalent than others? I imagine people have done studies on this or something at some point that I haven't read.

Your thoughts?

Anyway, since I'm not aware of any multi-choice polling on these forums we'll have to substitute something else instead.

Having income that is at/below the poverty line, however your region defines it.

Shush, you'll scare the fish away.

SpoilerI dunno, that's been my experience with lazy people at least, either a) the have a noble reason for it (in their mind at least), or b) they don't care to think about it.

Edited, Oct 17th 2013 1:56pm by someproteinguy

Most of the poor people I know (which is few since I don't associate with poor people) over value their self worth and are unwilling to work a job that is beneath them or for someone who doesn't treat them like having them work for them is a privilege.

Probably one, two or many of the listed possibilities can or will land someone on the bottom of the income scale, but like others mentioned you didn't really define poor.

There will always be people at the bottom. I think a more interesting question is how the income bell curve shapes up for the country. Are there more poor people now than before? Why or why not?

I realize I did initially but is post #3 still too vague? I could say "U.S. poverty line" but that didn't seem fair to someone making median wage in China or something.

I agree. In a capitalistic system, you are going to have people at the bottom, as there's a limited amount of capital. What's interesting is how that capital is distributed (plus distribution over time), and the income gap between the poles.

But assuming we're talking about the poverty line. My mom spent most of her childhood below that. Her dad was an alcoholic and her parents divorced early (and, unsurprisingly, he wasn't much of a help). My grandmother worked fulltime for a university as a secretary, with my mom essentially raising her younger brother, but it didn't even bring in enough to get them above the point of using food stamps. And it wasn't slacking - my grandmother was out the door before my mom got up to get herself and her brother ready for school, and got back just in time to play a game of cards with her kids before bedtime.

My mom married her first husband really young. She had a good job, but then she got pregnant and keeping it wasn't an option at the time. She waitressed at nights, when my grandmother would watch my sister (eventually sisters). Her husband became an alcoholic, and they divorced after some really violent episodes. He never paid child support, to the best of my knowledge, and eventually no longer even saw my sisters (at their request).

Between the divorce and marrying my dad, though, she probably was at least near the poverty line. Because she had no marketable skills, and made all her money waitressing to support herself, her two girls, and a mother who was recently diagnosed as epileptic (which made my mother loathe to let her babysit, but there was no other choice). Things were better after she married my dad, but in the vein of having two crappy incomes rather than one. We were solidly lower class until I was at least 5 (and I'm 12 years younger than my eldest sister).

My dad was educated as a doctor on a state scholarship, but it would have meant he'd have to go to a state hospital when he graduated (or pay back the money). But if he didn't graduate, he didn't owe anything. He had just married my mom, who came with two kids, and the AIDS epidemic was hitting its stride. He almost certainly would have ended up in Camden or Newark, so he dropped out. Two other doctors from that program went to hospitals, got pricked by thrashing addicts, and contracted AIDS from it. So he's never (to the best of my knowledge) regretted that decision. Not getting to be a doctor, sure, but not that one in particular.

He also looked into joining the Air Force, but the recruiter told him they wouldn't take any of his med school credits. Turns out, that was completely false, but he didn't learn it until after my mom was pregnant with my brother and he wasn't willing to leave home.

So, he ended up finding work as a car salesman, and he's been there ever since. Which means they've had some really good years, and some REALLY bad years. They probably hover at an upper-lower class income.

So, yeah, there are a whole lot of reasons in there. Disability, addiction, lack of education, some bad choices, some bad luck. My mom learned a lot about thrift growing up, but she didn't really have any opportunity to do much with it. She was smart, my grandmother was smart, but college just wasn't an option. And it was still a time where heavy pressure to be a housewife existed.

I doubt it's often the case that there's any one reason. Life's not usually that simple.

They all failed to invest in the only truely stable currancy.



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That's half the posters in this thread, and they don't seem to think of themselves as poor.

The other factors are more likely to dictate the status of the ****** though.

You fall out of a deformed, poor, addicted or colored vag and you're at a disadvantage.

Designer Vaginers are the answer.

Unfortunately I have to agree with her. If it was something like Subway I could see your point, but no one should have to work at Taco Bell.

You're why poor people are poor.

I'd rank KFC below Taco Bell for ickyness.

I had 5 Guys earlier this week for the first time. It was nothing to scream about.