What Makes Being Poor in The United States Suck?

[sc94597]

JWeinCom said:

sc94597 said:

I grew up in the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre-Hazleton metropolitan area. While murders and violent crime were similar to other small metropolitan areas, in my county drugs and alcohol were huge, as it is a major route for the drug trade between Philadelphia and New York City. Meth labs were busted quite often. The court system was also very corrupt (see: kids for cash scandal.)

My high school was ranked 413/500 schools in Pennsylvania in 2012, when I graduated. While it was no inner-city school, it wasn't that great of an education either.

Thanks for the info.  All I'm saying is that your personal experience may not be representative of every poor person, and shouldn't be used as a basis to make blanket statements

Certainly, I understand that.  But these resources and benefits that I described are available to every poor person, whether they live in Philadelphia or the rural areas of PA. While I didn't describe the differences among states, I did mention that Pennsylvania is pretty average in that regard. 

I think there should be more emphasis on the socio- portion of low socio-economic status, as economically the poor have many opportunites and saftey nets. The problem seems to be primarily cultural, and that is the cause for the difference between inner-city poor persons and suburban/small town poor persons. The culture of inner-cities is what leads to these results. If anything, i think the inner-city persons get more resources. In Pittsburgh, where I live currently, people who make poor financial decisions get an aid who will teach them about a variety of finance topics. Charter schools and school choice is an actual thing. There are more job opportunites. So on and so on. I am sure Philadelphia has similar programs. 

My point of this thread though, is as far as benefits go I can't see how the U.S is supposedly lagging behind other countries in terms of safety nets for the "poor." A poor person in the U.S doesn't have to pay for health-care, food, and a sizeable portion of housing, just like poor persons in other first-world countries. One can argue that the middle class gets fewer benefits, but certainly not the poor.