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Fayceless on 15 January 2014
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Mr Puggsly said:
Jay520 said:
Why do you think the poor choose not to escape poverty? Lack of education? Low cognitive capacity? What do you think? I am interested.


I presume the biggest issue is lack of motivation. Perhaps many poor people are content with the little money they make or their government handouts. The fact is even poor people in America live pretty well compared to most people in the world.

I'm not sure what the solution is, but I'm certain most people living in poverty can pull themselves out.


Sorry, but the big picture math doesn't support that argument.  You can look at an individual and say "you can get yourself out of poverty" and the statement is often true.  But if look at the big picture, and say "you can ALL get yourselves out of poverty," that statement is false.  The proportion of low-paying jobs to decent jobs is bad and getting worse.  And it's not because people decided they WANTED low-paying jobs.  The good jobs went away, and people took what they could get to support themselves or their families.  When a pressing economic need exists - like a health problem or mouths to feed - a person can easily become trapped in the only job they find themselves qualified for.

It used to be a good attitude, work ethic, and willingness to learn and improve yourself (and a high school education!) was enoguh for a stable career.  That's not the case anymore.  All that can get you is a dead end service-industry job.

It's EASY to blame the poor their situation, and so many people take the EASY way out and say "it's their fault."  It's not.  The situation is so much more complicated, but those with comfortable lives don't want to even think about it, so they blame the poor for being poor.  The number of people who want better opportunities far outnumber the amount of opportunities available.  Telling people to just get better jobs will not, and cannot solve the problem.  Even if, I should say ESPECIALLY if, they all DO try to get better jobs.